Lorna Irvine reviews the latest co-production between A Play, a Pie and a Pint and the Traverse.
Control: we all like to believe we have it. But when a middle-aged market trader with no name loses his partner Alison in a car crash, survivor's guilt kicks in, and he begins to spiral out of control. Andy Duffy's taut play, directed by Emma Callander, is a study in minimalism, from concise movement to set—a big black chair evocative of Mastermindsurrounded by shiny grey linoleum.
A low, thrumming sound ramps up the tension, with Jamie Michie's monologue both haunted and bubbling with an undercurrent of malice. Structurally, it is a little predictable, past and present entwining, but with a steely-eyed performance, it scarcely matters: Michie's mood pinballs into sorrow, spite, and all things in between, and is nothing short of mesmerising—for most of the time, anyway. Only the last ten minutes drag a little.
Numbness, brought on by grief and post-traumatic stress disorder is vividly conveyed. “Other people's presence is an act of violence,” he shudders as he struggles to find his way back into everyday living amid the financial crash, navigating through counselling, a spiritual quest (brilliantly satirised) and a mismatched new romantic relationship with a woman called Kate.
It can only end badly, and of course it does, in blood and denial: a small slab of everyday horror, chilling in its banality. This unnamed man could be anyone- another faceless, middle-class, middle-aged statistic in just another prurient tabloid headline, who was pushed too far, and somehow lost control.
Crash has ended its run at Oran Mor but performs at the Traverse from October 28 to November 1.
RSS