Theatreguide.London
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The Theatreguide.London Review
In March 2020 the covid-19 epidemic
forced the closure of all British theatres. Some companies adapted
by putting archive recordings of past productions online, others
by streaming new shows. And we take the opportunity to explore
other vintage productions preserved online. Until things return to
normal we review the experience of watching live theatre onscreen.
Miles
Original
Theatre Online Summer 2022
One
of
three new plays staged by Original Theatre at London's Riverside Studios
earlier this year and now available online, Eilidh Nurse's Miles is an
engaging character study in small lives made bearable by small
expectations.
24-year-old
Janie works in a rundown caravan park on the Scottish coast, owned by
gruff but fatherly Bobby. They hire school-leaver Ed as general
handyman, and are at first taken aback by his unflagging good spirits,
but gradually warm to him, though Janie remains cynical and
borderline-depressed.
What
passes for a plot comes with the arrival of Ed's black-sheep older
brother. No points for guessing that he and Janie have a dark past and
there will be disturbing revelations.
But
this is really the weakest part of the play because, for all its shock
value, it is the most conventional and predictable. (Another revelation
about the relationship of two characters, hinted at throughout the play,
turns out to be a red herring, explicitly denied at the end.)
The
real power of the play lies in the believable and sympathetic picture of
little people with very limited lives being protected from despair by
even more limited imaginations.
Ed
is so delighted to have a job and what pass for friends that he can't
see how little they amount to. Bobby's worries at the prospect of his
business going bust keep being eclipsed by the adventures of middle-age
dating.
And
even if Janie vaguely remembers having dreams more grand than this, a
cynical quip and an occasional drink are enough to keep her going.
The
audience sees and feels how dead-end the characters' lives are more than
they themselves do, but we also see – and appreciate – how their limited
vision allows them something like contentment and perhaps even
happiness.
This
Original
Theatre production is fully staged rehearsed reading – that is, the
actors carry and refer to scripts but, under Amelia Sears' skilled and
sensitive direction, have fully developed their characterisations and
actions.
Hiftu
Quasem invests Janie with exactly the right balance of rebellion and
resignation to make any next step in her life believable, while Cristian
Ortega gives Ed the emotional indestructibility of simple innocence.
Miles is a small play with not a great deal to tell us about life. But it offers ninety minutes in the company of attractive characters whose small stories are warming and reassuring.
Gerald Berkowitz
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