I was very glad to be back at the lovely
Hope Mill Theatre to see Parallel, the latest work from writer / performer
Laura Lindsay and Black Toffee Productions. Having enjoyed the last work I saw
from them, Hidden, I had been looking forward to this show for some time. I was
not disappointed.
The play has an interesting opening
concept - which of the three characters the cast portray is decided by a roll of
the dice. It’s a fascinating twist and echoes one of the themes of the play
which explores whether the roles we play in life are by chance or by choice. It
must also be quite a challenge for the cast, as each only has a short time
after the dice roll to ‘inhabit’ their characters, but it is certainly one they
rise to, with each actress portraying their assigned role with such clarity and
detail that the audience is completely engaged in the unfolding story.
On the night I attended the dice rolled a
two, meaning that writer Lindsay took the part of Beth, a girl beginning to
fall down the cracks of homelessness, Emily Spowage was Anna, a pressured
Business Consultant struggling to cope, and Arabella Gibbins was C, a homeless
lady with many challenges, but arguably the most together of the bunch.
The action takes place in a station late
at night. Anna has just missed the last train, Beth needs some peace to think
as her options are running out, and both are intruding on C’s space. Whilst
this play explores the issues surrounding homelessness, to describe it as a
play purely about homelessness would be to do it a disservice as it is much
more complex than that. It touches on the paths we take in life, whether our
lives are governed by choice or circumstance, and how the assumptions you may
make about people are often wrong.
The three disparate characters are played
so cleverly by the cast and their thoughts and experiences connect with the
watchers on many levels. Each actress brought a real depth to their character,
allowing the audience to invest in them and find things to identify with in all
of them. The intelligent writing and well chosen direction were extremely
effective, gradually uncovering the stories of all three ladies and challenging
your first impressions. All were written with such a finely judged detail, they
felt real and identifiable, sometimes a little too close to home if I'm honest!
There were elements of both Beth and Anna’s lives that I could identify with,
but weirdly the person whose philosophy I most admired was the one who you
initially on meeting you may have dismissed or avoided. Despite C's situation
she seemed the wisest and most capable of the group.
Frequently
hilarious, the writing and performances were also nuanced and engaging, full of
clever detail. Not afraid of silence and naturalism, the production allowed a
gradual development that was all the more effective for its calm pacing, totally
absorbing you in all the characters and their stories, drivers and philosophies.
The fact that each of the actresses gave such fine performances was a real
credit to their talent and it would be fascinating to come on another night and
see a different roll of the dice.
All in all a
fascinating, intelligent, thought provoking, accomplished and compassionate production, that I thoroughly
enjoyed from start to finish. Everyone involved in this should be very proud of
it.
Still can’t
believe that Anna didn’t get the I Spy though, it was so obvious…………
