Theatre: Bone

Bone, written by John Donnelly and directed by Lara Macgregor.



I saw this play at Circa, one of my favourite theatres in Wellington, NZ. It's a very recent one-act British play. Three characters - a middle-aged woman, a 30-year old man and a 20-something man - deliver three parallel monologues which intersect only thematically, their storylines never connecting, if not by the power language and the fact that the three actors share and negotiate the same stage.

They represent countryside (the woman who's dealing with the aftermath of the destruction of her farm and the subsequent death of her husband in the wake of the foot and mouth disease), town (the loutish and racist young man who spends his last night before military deployment in Iraq drinking and trying desperately to get laid, but who's also heartbroken for having been unable to protect his sister from tragedy), and London (the man who works in the city, has lost his youthful hopes/dreams, is unable to accept the break-up from his ex-girlfriend and harbours fantasies of violence and self-destruction).

Although a little long and repetitive, it's a very compelling work, where the author creates three very distinctive voices, from the woman's poetic memories, to the adult man's self-deprecating irony, to the younger man's uneducted, yet vulnerable brutality.

In terms of acting, it's a tour the force, and the three performers - Donogh Rees, Phil Brown (both Shortland Street regulars) and Colin Garlick - are outstanding in their roles. In particular, I was mesmerized by Brown's performance, which ranged from ironic to tragic, always perfectly timed, controlled, moving.



The theatre being so small and the seats only one or two metres away from the stage, we were able to see the facial expressions, which Brown used brilliantly in all ther variety: rakish smiles, embarassement, tears, etc.

A simple stage design with three benches and the floor covered in sand, a subtle but haunting score and effective lightning all helped to tell three personal dramas inextricably linked to contemporary events.

And even in the darkest hour, there's some hope left, if only in the acceptance of human resiliance against all odds.