Confusion and ethics are at the heart of this contemplative play by Analogue Productions
Analgoue Productions' handsomely constructed Beachy Head makes the London appearance of its UK tour at Jacksons Lane this week. Marked by quiet simplicity, this is an hour and a half of near perfect theatre.
Making adroit use of multimedia, the play follows Amy in the aftermath of her husband Stephen's suicide by jumping off the cliffs at Beachy Head, East Sussex. Dr Rachel Sampson who examines Stephen's body addresses us first. She provides the cold hard facts and the harsh biology of what happens when a body falls from a great height, at great speed onto a hard surface. I feel like I should be taking notes from this lecture, but to what end? What would I do with this information?
Her sterile delivery combines with the images she conjures to chilling effect, and they come back to us throughout the show. The script, by Dan Rebellato, Emma Jowett and Lewis Hetherington, not only shows that multi-authored productions can work brilliantly but it also presents us with characters who have a range of distances from Stephen's death. His wife Amy, played by the understated Jowett, finds her emotions are stifled. Her numbness, though realistic and necessary, alienates her from the audience. The number crunching from Dr Sampson, is surprisingly more comprehensible.
Relief comes in the form of Matt and Joe, two filmmakers who inadvertently capture Stephen's death on camera. The eight seconds of film they possess is the cause of much back and forth about how to treat the suicide. As they begin making a new documentary about Amy's emotional journey, they forget and then remember the human element of what they're doing, which creates a few moments of brilliantly awkward comedy.
The invested cast and rather slick direction from Liam Jarvis and Hannah Barker use live feeds to create close-ups and amplify moments of indecision and fear. They also take us from a still morgue table to a windy cliff top in scenes that glide into one another. Beachy Head is filled with haunting imagery and absorbing storytelling; it's no mid-week pick me-up but is definitely a play that lingers.
Beachy Head runs at Jacksons Lane until 12th February
Click here to read an interview with co-director Liam Jarvis
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