Love and Money- Reboot Theatre @ Network Theatre, Waterloo

Love and Money by Dennis Kelly is a play that conveys modern day corruption, greed and the dichotomy of what connects us as humans the most. The play challenges the viewer to question what one's life is really about, and by the finale we all probably give in and realise that materialism is secondary to human needs. I think it is fair to say that everyone's morals are clearly out on the table for surgical dissection, and perhaps even the audience are torn between right and wrong until the end monologue where we have a chance to absorb what life really wants us to connect with the most. The protagonist David leads a complicated dual life as a high powered career man who craves love from a French lady Sandrine whom he meets on a business trip. David has suffered intensely during the course of his life after a series of unfolding events, including his wife's suicide, crippling debt and working unbelievably long hours in a soulless industry.

The play is a parallel of old and new, in that Love and Money continually takes us back to David's marriage with his wife, who was uncontrollably materialistic and then synchronises his present life searching for a relationship with Sandrine. Love and Money portrays every theme that modern day life loves to hate which includes temporal relationships based on fleeting encounters in so far as nothing has a permanent state of being, and also everyone's drive and continual search for success that equates with high monetary value. The cast enter as hungry corporates ready for another day's work in an individualist competitive society which firmly sets the scene about this journey of discovery that juxtaposes ruthless ambition with a deeper life meaning.

Michael Waller as David led an impeccably strong cast through a complicated and high energy driven piece. Waller successfully convinced us of his character's highly emotional and stressed existence at all times, and he took risks with his varying emotionally charged states. I was blown away by the physicality of his stress and anger, and in particular when he nose dived into a violent state of crushing the CD cases which really showed us his limits of being pushed to the edge. Waller's pacing on stage heightened moments of tension, and even when still one could feel the sheer toxicity of his anxiety and constant state of worry and preoccupation.  Waller's voice beautifully resonated quakes, trembles and poignant moments of reflection and care. Given his ever presence on stage, his variance in acting style and delivery was kept fresh throughout the piece.

Other cast members equally excelled in their performance, and a special note of credit due to Athena Bounti who convincingly embodied more than 3 versatile and distinctly different characters. Bounti grappled with varying accents and her broken franglais was superb. I thoroughly enjoyed Bounti's portrayal of Val as the corporate superbitch with a heart. In fact, the diverse casting of the actors was a key highlight for me and actually added a further layer of social and cultural intrigue of how we are all fundamentally the same as human beings. It was very refreshing to hear a multi-lingual cast perform rather than an all British cast. In regards to all cast performances, there were significant risks taken on stage and the performance didn't give the impression that it had been overly rehearsed as it still pertained a certain raw quality. Reboot Theatre thrives on the workshop element of their company, and this is evident from what I have seen in this production.


Next week: Frenemies by SEDOS @ The Bridewell Theatre, St.Paul's.

Top Girls @ The Actors Centre, Covent Garden

Impulse Theatre Company presents Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, the 1982 play about a career obsessive woman by the name of Marlene who comes from a troubled family background and has made it in business in the big smoke. The play examines toxic female friendships, women's attitude to success, men and love. Marlene has a troubled relationship with her sister who took on the role of adoptive mother to her child which is a top kept secret throughout the play.

Although the play was written in the 80s at the height of Thatcherite politics, Top Girls has an ever prevalent importance in today's dog eat dog society, particularly in city life. Top Girls is a thoroughly mixed play in that the first half concentrates on symbolising important female historical characters, that perhaps later go onto inspire Marlene's cut throat approach to life. Having never read the play, I found the first half didn't really connect or make sense to me until the very end when I was able to succinctly summarise the behaviours and activities within the piece, and also feel a connection to Marlene and a certain empathy when she delivered the emotionally charged conversation piece with her sister.

 The first scene opened with the intimidating dinner party setting where Marlene (Laurence Vaissiere) made her striking entrance with some indirect flirting with the waiter which signalled her seductive personality. The piece incorporated diverse casting which Impulse Theatre Company should be congratulated on, as the themes transcend all races, cultures and societies across all time frames. Each of the female invites to the party seemed completely averse to the traits of Marlene, in that superficially they seemed intelligent, weaker and unlike Marlene until we get invited into deeper and more intimate conversation with them as the evening strikes on and the wine just keeps flowing. The first half of the play is inspired on American feminists and historical women of importance including Pope Joan, the explorer Isabella Bird, Lady Nijo, and later a Buddhist nun. Each of the women displayed strong leadership characteristics and revealed their plight in life which almost gave the audience a hint of healthy realism and that these women are not super bitches for nothing- there is always reasoning behind a tough, strong woman and why she behaves aloof, superficial and even arrogant. Top Girls conveyed the sad and lonely journey of a lost and emotionally void character in Marlene, given her loveless family and disconnection or sense of belonging to a family unit.

Emotionally, the piece was very fluid as at the beginning no-one could make sense of the action or behaviours of Marlene in particular who gave us that initial impression that she was a hated woman, and we would not change our opinion of her. The play is very real as we all possess that toxic relationship with friends, partners, colleagues or even family and there is no obvious explanation as to why we can't cut the emotional cords. Towards the end of the piece, I did shred a tear or two for Marlene as I related to her insecurity, hunger for success but more importantly desire to be loved and of course love something or someone. Her relationship with her niece (real biological daughter) didn't ever hit the real depths of dysfunctionality, as this could have been a play on it's own to examine the relationship between mother, sister and daughter.

The actors portrayed an unconventional play with their own style, and didn't necessarily stick to the rules which was only to be expected. The positive effect of Top Girls is that is has no rules and can be re-directed in many different fashions given it's non-linear style frame. Impulse Theatre Company is a well established acting company, based in London and Paris (given it's French casting) which focuses on truth and characterisation which are firmly embedded in the teaching style of this acting school. I think Top Girls was an apt choice for the company as each actor was able to grapple with complex emotions, multi-characters and of course convincing the audience that they were on the connected journey for these complex characters who were multi-faceted in nature. The staging was intimate which signalled the need to be close but also on the outside of the action, as each character was closely and carefully dissected for their toxicity and real self.

Top Girls is playing @ The Actors Centre, Covent Garden until Saturday 6 August.

Tonight: Love and Money @ Network Theatre, Waterloo.

London Road by SEDOS @ Bridewell Theatre, St.Paul's.

London Road tells the story of the atrocious serial murder killings of five women in Ipswich in 2006, which was well documented on national and even international news reportages. London Road is a typical residential British street that was subject to media frenzy and big brother intrusion following one of the biggest crime plots since Jack the Ripper savaged the Yorkshire community. The production documented the pre and post lives of one of Britain's most famed streets, including the trial and condemning of the guilty party, Steve Wright, the occupant of number 79.

SEDOS presented a dark plot with light and musical harmony that far outweighed my expectations with a talented cast and crew, given the major technicalities of the production which included live reporting and video camera devices on stage. London Road began with an introduction to community life, in village council meeting setting in a church hall with your archetypal 'do gooders' and noisy neighbour brigade. The production had a raw quality about it, and each and every character was natural and overtly appealing to the audience with their real approach. Vocally, the actors didn't have superb singing voices, but the action and realness of London Road almost made one forget it was a musical production as the action and stage settings detracted from the vocals of the cast.

What was so refreshing about London Road was that the actors presented real characters that one meets everyday in British society, and there was no overacting as everyone naturally fitted their parts. Each character was an accurate cross-section of society, from retired couples, to middle aged couples and then young teenagers who all portrayed varying attitudes of fear to indifference on the events. Despite the tragedy of the London Road events, the musical and indeed these 'everyday people' manage to build a community and still trust each of their neighbours implicitly as one got the impression at the various Christmas parties and garden fetes, that nothing had really changed following the sombre events of 2006. The lightheartedness of the Christmas party and garden fetes were a celebration of continuing life, and even the audience felt part of these events. I am sure each of the audience members could relate to each of the characters in this play as we are all interconnected with these people through voluntary work, careers or even leisure activities.

The visuality of the production was the key highlight for me as a viewer, in the fact that minimal stage changes were needed in order to represent the location of the setting. In essence, the back wall projection of the residential street pretty much remained as the back drop throughout. One could be transported from a neighbour's living room to a café, and then to a village hall meeting. All of the scene changes were rhythmically timed and prompt scene changes occurred, which all naturally followed on from one another in a logical sequence. Particularly strong scenes that included noticeable mood changes on stage included the police taping of the street, where one could really get a sense of how these people's lives were disrupted from everyday routine activity. Emotionally, one could physically sense the claustrophobia of living in the nanny state at this point. Visually, this scene was the most powerful and had the most effect on the audience who felt as if the community was trapped and could not escape the horrific tale. The news reporting and the trial scenes were also visually enthralling as they were well conveyed and all contributed to the build up of the guilty sentencing climax. Overall, both act 1 and 2 were as equally strong and effective at keeping the audience concentration as all was focused on the 'who dunnit' clause.

London Road is playing at the Bridewell until 6 August.

http://www.sedos.co.uk/2016/londonroad.htm