The Stage

Product

Published Friday 19 August 2005 at 11:50 by Jeremy Austin

It takes a brave playwright to step from behind his words and onto the stage, but Mark Ravenhill has decided to take the plunge with this monologue.

Monologue, yes, despite there being two people credited. Elizabeth Baker plays an A-list actress who has to remain silent and suitably unimpressed as Ravenhill’s pretentious, enthusiastic, high-maintenance film director explains to her the plot of a film he has for her and her role within it. She does it very well.

And well done Ravenhill. Although it is no surprise that a writer can anticipate the subtle nuances in a script and the jokes and the pathos, it should not be taken for granted that he can express them through performance. Ravenhill does.

While this is in no small part to Lucy Morrison’s sure-footed and unobtrusive direction, it is also a credit to Ravenhill’s dramatic skills - skills that grow as does his confidence throughout the performance. He even sings in a little, fragile falsetto voice.

There is more here than just a parody of a camped up film director. As the narrative within the narrative expands, so the audience begins to find itself gripped by the preposterous plot, a testament to Ravenhill’s writing but also a clever comment on how even the most ridiculous storyline can entrance an audience if well told.