Immaculate by Oliver Lansley (Rekindle Theatre) Review

Mia (Amiera Darwish) is pregnant, to the best of her memory hasn’t slept with anyone in six months, and now the Arch Angel Gabriel is knocking on her door claiming her unborn child as the second coming. As though the shock of finding out that she has quite possibly been nonced by the big man isn’t enough: Satan also appears to claim her babe as the anti-Christ, her ex is hanging about the house calling her a whore, her best friend has a guilty conscience and a confession to make, and worst of all she’s slept with the biggest geek in the world: Gary Goodman.

Rekindle Theatre breathe new life into Oliver Lansley’s 2006 piece (originally premiered at the Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh) with a stand out performance by Laurie Brown as a campish Gabriel harbouring a temper, constantly finding himself on the defensive as he God’s apologist, at one point even getting chased around the room by a whip-brandishing Mia in a dominatrix outfit. Samuel Keefe and Simon Donaldson also pull out skilled contrasting performances as Gary Goodman and Lucifer respectively.

The kinetics of the piece flow excellently (director Bill Wright’s credit) creating a vivid atmosphere, characters sometimes miming in the background of scenes, at others unceremoniously shunted aside to watch agape by the more dauntless. Tastefully selected music fortifies key moments and we’re even treated to some lively choreography as the cast buffoonishly “show us what they got” to Destiny’s Child’s Bootlicious, one of many hilarious scenes. Another favourite is Rebecca (Saria Steyl) gushing out her narcissistic concern that her own dishonesty will lead inescapably to the loss of her best friend, Mia, and her new boyfriend, Michael, all in one fell swoop.

It’s not a perfect rendering. There are some awkward character dynamics, for example the relationship between Mia and her ex Michael, is more mother-to-spoilt-child than lover-to-ex-lover so any unresolved chemistry between them is hard to imagine, although they sink into it more as the play progresses. There is also a degree of overplaying, which could alternatively be countenanced as intrinsic to absurd nature of the melodrama depending on one’s taste for realism. The spirit of some cut scenes, in which the cast verse narrations in ominous unison while wearing spooky masks, takes some time to develop. At first we’re not sure whether it’s meant to be funny or serious (if funny: not demonstratively enough, if serious: downright cheesy) but the form soon establishes itself and grows on us.

Overall the production is extremely enjoyable and well received.

My Child by Mike Bartlett and One Good Beating by Linda McLean - Rekindle Theatre Review

Philip Larkin - This Be The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
  They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
  And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
  By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
  And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
  It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
  And don't have any kids yourself.

(above supplied in the program note)

            Rekindle theatre invite us to some existential musing on the product of power dynamics within family relationships in two psychological works of drama directed by Bill Wright.

            The first, My Child by Mike Bartlett, presents us with the mild-mannered, kind-natured “nice guy” (played by John C. Gilmour) striving for a meaningful relationship with his son, and his rather cruel ex-partner (played by Sarah McComish) who has paired with a high-powered, cynical, go-getter who has more to offer her both financially and in terms of emotional edification for herself and her child. The play, which was critically acclaimed when it premiered in 2007 at the Royal Court Theatre, ultimately asks us to consider whether those values taught as morally correct (turning the cheek and putting others first) are really the way to get ahead or even find happiness in life. Aristotle believed that every virtue was a midway point between to vices (such as courage between cowardice and foolhardiness) and Buddhist teachings also speak of a middle path. My Child leads us in the search for that golden mean between the mercenary life and that of the self-sacrificing victim.

The second play, One Good Beating, by Linda Mclean, is a bizarre black comedy about a pair of grown up children taking revenge on their sociopathic father for the way he raised them by locking him in a coal shed. The children, one of them softened and the other hardened by his abuse, fail to teach him a lesson as he talks around them in eloquent rings, forcing them to examine the short comings of their own psyches. The most poignant and skilled element of Linda McLean’s writing is that one can easily see how the personalities of these children could have been moulded as the product of their father Robert’s parenting. Again we are lead to look at two extremes of personality and seek a middle path between the calloused and soft-skinned. This piece was the highlight of the evening, with perceptively distinguished performances by Eric Robertson as the nonchalant, piercingly dismissive and truly mendacious father, Michelle Gallacher as his headstrong and countenanced daughter, and Scott Cadenhead as his soft-natured and less than self-assured son.