Through the end of the month, theatergoers in New York have the chance to catch the last three entries in this year's Brits Off-Broadway Festival, 59E59 Theater's annual celebration of stagecraft from the U.K. The three productions at the theaters right now are terrific examples of the range of work that this Festival imports each year.
The most successful of the three productions on at 59E59 right now (and through June 29) is Philip Ridley's Vincent River, a two character drama that rivets from start to finish. Set in an essentially bare flat in East London, where Anita (Deborah Findlay) is moving following the brutal murder of her adult son, Vincent, Ridley's drama is something of a cat-and-mouse game between the grieving mother and Davey (Mark Field), a seventeen year-old who has been watching Anita's movements ever since her son was killed. It turns out that he was the person who discovered the corpse in a public lavatory used by gay men as a cruising ground. Davey's been watching Anita attempting to work up the courage to learn a bit more about the man he discovered.
As you might imagine, there's more going on with Davey than meets the eye and the interdependence that forms between Anita and Davey early on and the ways in which they coax information and secrets out of one another is at the heart of this drama that consistently fascinates as it unfolds over an exhilarating 85 minutes.
Under the direction of Steve Marmion, Findlay and Field turn in two meticulously crafted performances. Early on Findlay deftly combines maternal caring with blind fury born from her grief. Though Anita softens somewhat during her encounter with Davey (thanks to copious amounts of gin and a few puffs on a joint), Findlay's performance never loses its edge. Similarly, Field delivers a performance that seems to vibrate with nervousness throughout, which builds with progressive intensity to the play's climactic moments.
Ridley's play and the performers' work is beautifully underscored by Aaron Spivey's sensitive lighting design, which slowly takes these characters who are seeking illumination from the brightness of mid-afternoon into the dimness of twilight.
Samuel Adamson's Some Kind of Bliss is a play with no fewer chilling details. This solo show follows a journalist, Rachel (Lucy Briers) on one momentous day as she travels to the South London home of 1960s pop sensation Lulu.
Rachel's journey, from the comfortable home that she shares with her oh-so-accommodating husband, takes her through some of London's less desirable neighborhoods, some of which were her stomping grounds as a child, when she was being cared for by her gay rocker uncle Stevie. Unfortunately, Rachel's travels also put her in harms way more than once, yet somehow, the dangers she encounters invigorate her, shaking her out of her marriage, which, though not unhappy, is discomforting to her more bohemian nature.
Rachel's trek unfolds within scenic designer Lucy Osborne's stylish environment – a crisscross of wooden walkways and a steep ramp, which are lit with atmosphere and care by Stephen Holroyd. Under the direction of Tobu Frow, Briers not only brings Rachel's willfulness, insecurities, and pent-up frustration to life with aplomb, but also a host of other characters, such as a childhood incarnation of Rachel, her flamboyant uncle and her staid, and always chipper, husband.
The third, and most ambitious offering, that's closing out this year's "Brits" festival is a revival of The Hired Man, a musical from Melvyn Bragg (book) and Howard Goodall (music and lyrics).
Set in the years before, during and after World War I, "Man," adapted from Bragg's novel of the same name, focuses on a group of hired farm laborers in rural England and their struggles to survive as they work the land. The musical centers on three brothers, ne'er-do-well Isaac (Stuart Ward), labor organizer Seth (David Stothard) and family man John (Richard Colvin), who's married to the free-spirited Emily (Claire Sundin).
Part earnest family drama, part historical pageant and part social and political commentary, "Man" is a sweeping piece, but its disparate parts never coalesce into a satisfying whole. For instance, Bragg and Goodall build the first act of "Man" to John's realization that Emily has had an affair with Jackson (Simon Pontin), another worker on the farm at which they've been hired. But the creators allow us to see very little of Emily and Jackson's interaction. Instead, they offer up damning commentary on the system which reduces these characters to near-slaves working in deplorable conditions.
After intermission, when the action has shifted forward some 15 years, not only is John and Emily's marriage still intact, they've had another child. During this half of "Man," the couple will make cursory comments about their early life together, but we never learn how the marriage survived. Instead, the authors offering a lengthy, and politically charged, sequence that details Isaac and John's experiences in the trenches in Europe, and a bleak portrait of what life is like for the men who have shifted from tilling the soil to digging in the mines off the coast of England.
Throughout, it's impossible to not be swept away by aspects of Bragg's story and by segments of Goodall's rich and melodically diverse score, but one never feels completely drawn in by the drama at hand or the highly politicized portrait of the lives the characters led nearly 100 years ago.
Director Daniel Buckroyd has done a shrewd job in staging the piece using just an eight-person ensemble, but he has elicited an uneven array of performances from his company. Colvin and Pontin are particularly impressive as John and Jackson, respectively, as is Katie Howell, who plays John's teenage daughter in the second half of "Man." Unfortunately, Sundin offers a wooden performance as Emily, and Lee Foster's work as John's teen son borders on caricature.
Juliet Shillingford's unit set is remarkably flexible and beautifully evokes the countryside milieu of the piece, and Richard Reeday's musical direction for piano and incidental instruments (played by company members) admirably serves up Goodall's ambitious score.
What's most impressive about "Man" is its presence in the Festival at all. This is the first musical that has been presented at Brits Off-Broadway, and while it's not always satisfying, this vest-pocket production, presented without amplification, alongside these two dramas and the previous five entries, affords New Yorkers a terrific snapshot of theater from the U.K.'s off-West End and Fringe Theaters.
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Brits Off-Broadway continues through June 29 at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street). For further information and ticketing, visit www.britsoffbroadway.com.
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