Fernanda has cleverly constructed a dark ‘murder mystery’ psychodrama about a suicide, which is entirely suffused with guilt and regret, as, character by character, the truth is revealed to us in a series of family confessions.
It is perhaps a particularly Mexican catholic tale, though guilt and recrimination do often lower about suicide whatever the context. It was an ambitious topic for a young writer. Fernanda and Katrine, with some sense of theatrical presence, managed to stage it eliciting a degree of commitment from their cast and team.
Some guidance and editing would have been helpful, however, because the play resorts to sequential monologues over revealing dialogue, and discursive passages rather than character development. Another slight problem was pace. Long scene changes and a drooping rhythm could easily have been avoided with careful planning and informed rehearsal. These are the flaws of inexperience. Despite the careful construction of wings and the copious amount of scenery, the use of theatre as theatre, the exploration of a live medium for its own sake, was lacking. Anyhow, the filmic sense of realism gave the scenes a rich and colourful feel.
Joanna was a very engaging guide as the multi-person narrator (a wonderful story-telling idea) - a deadpan delivery contrasting with her frequent and even elaborate costume changes.
The story of a family piecing together a story in the wreckage of their lives after their father’s suicide, ‘Bricks’ turns out at last to be a conceit – the scattered pieces of a broken communication which take even a death to bring together into one picture. Even then, the picture is unresolved, however. The appearance of Ricardo as a coma victim waking up after ten years was particularly tangential and difficult to convince people of – there were eruptions of ‘inappropriate laughter’ in his scene and also in the Amit’s scene – the two actors whose characters’ complexity clearly greatly outdid their powers of portrayal.
There was a moment or two of real humour, and one, in particular, showed Katrine’s confidence and subtlety as an actress alongside Raunak in the cookie scene, which was delightful. There was also quite a strong performance from Mahima, which, like much else about this production showed real potential. The lighting was carefully choreographed and executed and added much to the shifts of focus and intensity involved in the play as a whole.
And congratulations to the writer, directors and cast and crew for the sheer achievement of this all-student production!
It is perhaps a particularly Mexican catholic tale, though guilt and recrimination do often lower about suicide whatever the context. It was an ambitious topic for a young writer. Fernanda and Katrine, with some sense of theatrical presence, managed to stage it eliciting a degree of commitment from their cast and team.
Some guidance and editing would have been helpful, however, because the play resorts to sequential monologues over revealing dialogue, and discursive passages rather than character development. Another slight problem was pace. Long scene changes and a drooping rhythm could easily have been avoided with careful planning and informed rehearsal. These are the flaws of inexperience. Despite the careful construction of wings and the copious amount of scenery, the use of theatre as theatre, the exploration of a live medium for its own sake, was lacking. Anyhow, the filmic sense of realism gave the scenes a rich and colourful feel.
Joanna was a very engaging guide as the multi-person narrator (a wonderful story-telling idea) - a deadpan delivery contrasting with her frequent and even elaborate costume changes.
The story of a family piecing together a story in the wreckage of their lives after their father’s suicide, ‘Bricks’ turns out at last to be a conceit – the scattered pieces of a broken communication which take even a death to bring together into one picture. Even then, the picture is unresolved, however. The appearance of Ricardo as a coma victim waking up after ten years was particularly tangential and difficult to convince people of – there were eruptions of ‘inappropriate laughter’ in his scene and also in the Amit’s scene – the two actors whose characters’ complexity clearly greatly outdid their powers of portrayal.
There was a moment or two of real humour, and one, in particular, showed Katrine’s confidence and subtlety as an actress alongside Raunak in the cookie scene, which was delightful. There was also quite a strong performance from Mahima, which, like much else about this production showed real potential. The lighting was carefully choreographed and executed and added much to the shifts of focus and intensity involved in the play as a whole.
And congratulations to the writer, directors and cast and crew for the sheer achievement of this all-student production!
Benedict Clark
Head of Aesthetics
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