 Red
Stitch Actors Theatre
Rear,
2 Chapel St
St
Kilda
(Until
April 19)
IMAGE: L-R: Bell, Adams and Sharpe. Photo: Jodie Hutchinson
Jez Butterworth is a lesser known member of
the latest wave of British playwrights. He is a slow worker: The Winterling is only his third play in
over a decade, but his writing skills are extraordinary.
Butterworth’s previous plays, Mojo
and The Night Heron were comedy thrillers. Mojo concerned London’s gangsters, while
The Night Heron was about weird loners living in a rural marshland. The
Winterling combines elements of both, mixing urban gangsters with petty
rural criminals.
The setting is a derelict Dartmoor
farmhouse under an Air Force flight path, where West (Nicholas Bell) has
summoned his old partner in crime, Wally (Steven Adams). A third member of the
gang turns out to have killed himself and accompanying Wally instead of the
deceased is Patsy (Martin Sharpe), the son of his latest girlfriend.
In an atmosphere of growing menace, West,
instead of planning a new heist, assumes that Wally had some part in the death
of his ex-colleague, and intimidates the pair into submission before they
retire to their rooms for the night.
A talkative old tramp (Adrian Mulraney) and
a mysterious woman (Ella Caldwell) complete the Pinter-esque cast of characters.
By the end of the first act it seems some
terrible act of revenge will take place; while in the second act, jarring
flashbacks or flash forwards bring surprising power shifts, with the victimiser
now a victim.
The three Londoners dominate the action. Bell is impressive as
victim and victimiser, while Sharpe creates an irritating East Ender without
being over-mannered. Adams is great as the
sweaty Wally and his looming, transformed self.
Butterworth’s atmosphere is disturbing,
especially at the play’s climax, where events generate a feeling of panic in
the audience. Director Andrew Gray moves the actors like chess pieces. They
cringe against walls in fear, stride centre stage or sit in the chair that
represents power or interrogation. Peter Mumford’s set opens out the familiar
but restricted acting space, which is littered with axes, chains and saws,
adding to the torture chamber atmosphere.
www.redstitch.net
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