Naima Khan reviews the 2009 Fringe success Eschara in its London venue Union Theatre.
Eschara by Phillip Whiteman
The affecting social observation of Phillip Whiteman's Eschara will firmly place him among a set of British playwrights who are notable for their expressive narrative and style perhaps more so than the points they make. His collection addresses the continuing personal effects of public tragedy that scar the human psyche. Whiteman cleverly illuminates the strength required to heal from tragedy by focusing his plays on weakness. In Bedlam we see a collection of stoic but ever-disturbed patients and their doctor slowly accepting that they may never have closure. Renaissance explores a mother's grief after the death of her son, still raw after a year but disturbingly aware of her own paradox, she still argues with herself about how life should move on. Bleak and ferocious in pace and character interaction, Whiteman's plays have a lasting effect.
Pandemonium is the masterpiece of his set. Beginning without warning, director Dan Ayling places his audience in limbo between a burnt out tube train and a hospital to bear witness to a high stakes chess game. A woman, and her lover are confronted by her husband, a victim of the 7/7 London bombings after she fails to visit him at the hospital. The oddity of the setting, and the downright nastiness of the characters makes us cringe at the weaknesses and fear on display. Whiteman's ugly turns of phrase used to describe uglier events skilfully supports his well constructed characters. In each piece, Cheekish productions are champions of the simple but startling.
Photo: Phillip Whiteman and Daphne Kouma in Pandemonium
Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat by Mark Ravenhill
Cheekish have cleverly used Whiteman's shorts as specific extensions of the general themes in Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, a set of tense plays hell bent on alerting their audience to humanity's ugliness, vulnerability and our preference for burying our heads in the sand. Unmistakably the work of Mark Ravenhill, author of such shockers as 'Shopping and Fucking', this collection of short plays is far from didactic.
A line in Paradise Lost sums up the theme of Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat: 'If you see it, you'll have to live with knowing you did nothing'. This goes for the plays and the tragic events they depict. Paradise Lost and Fear & Misery look at the lengths we go to to protect ourselves from the ills of the world and the common desire to disassociate ourselves from what could potentially be ugly and the ways we willingly delude ourselves.
In Crime and Punishment, Ravenhill lays bear the wrecked emotional state of a soldier. Confused and lost in every sense of the word, he can't remember his motivation for fighting and the company line 'for freedom and democracy' brings him no peace. The middle eastern woman he's interrogating is played brilliantly by Daphne Kouma who portrays admirable strength and vulnerability. Ravenhill's script though aptly disturbing at times seems a little desperate. Graeme John's depiction of the troubled, jittery soldier is utterly unsettling and fills the scene with unpredictability.
Each play is imbued with defiant dialogue and bold characters and left me shamefully wanting a cushion to hide behind.
The double bill runs at Union Theatre until 24th April
Photo:Phillip Whiteman and Lindesay Mace in Fear & Misery
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