Lines at Rosemary Branch Theatre

Lines at Rosemary Branch Theatre

12 April, 2011
by: Naima Khan

Fake verbatim theatre about fake verbatim theatre, Lines is a thought-provoking meta show.

Who would you like to play you in a film? And what if they did a terrible job? Lines addresses the events surrounding the murder of actor Michael Kinney after his hilarious depiction of a deluded policeman in a play about the death of Ian Tomlinson who was beaten at the G20 protests in 2009. The policeman Michael plays, Terry Stein, murders him shortly after opening night.

Lines is clever, very clever. The idea is pretty simple but the execution is more complex than it first seems. Masquerading as something factual, this complete work of fiction pretends to be verbatim theatre. Beginning thoughtfully, Lines utilises a recent event that still creates discussion whenever it hits the headlines to imagine what happens when a piece of documentary theatre stirs up the same mindless violence it was trying to highlight.

Director Thomas Martin embraces the meta-theatre of the show and introduces us to the actors as they perform their vocal warm-ups. They stand as though in a police line-up waiting to be selected for interrogation before they each come forward to give their thoughts on the events surrounding Michael's death. It's not a still piece and the actors provide a good amount of movement considering the script is the thing here. But it's the facial expressions that really hold the audience.

We are led along a road of emotional potholes, while writer James Fritz throws in cruel details about Michael's pulverised kidneys alongside cute stories of his childhood nativity performances from his adoring parents. Jeryl Burgess' quiet pain as Michael's mother is not easily forgotten. But Fritz avoids being too one-sided and any description of brutish policemen is balanced by the presence of one of Terry's colleagues, who explains how strange and frustrating it can be to see yourself on stage, presented to an audience as something so far from reality.

We also hear the thoughts of the playwright and the director, who try to work out what responsibility they bear for Michael's death. Robin, the creator of Ian and Bill, makes a major social faux pas and doesn't do much to win us over with his defensive tone and self-important understanding of documentary theatre. But thanks to Ian Mairs' great performance, it's impossible not to feel bad for this guy who is haunted by his dubious connection to the murder.

It's odd to think about how believable Lines is. On the one hand, no one's really going to go about creating verbatim theatre thinking the lives of the actors are in their hands (not in the UK anyway). But the way Lines is structured and the way the characters are crafted makes it absolutely plausible, and very thought-provoking.

Lines runs as part of a double bill featuring My Name is Rachel Corrie at Rosemary Branch Theatre until 30th April.

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Naima Khan