UK Premiere
Two friends head for the sea. They never make it. A road trip through words, death and France. 'A company of real potential' Lyn Gardner 'First class' ****Metro, ****Critics' Choice, Time Out www.choppedlogic.co.uk
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| £ 5.00 | £ 9.00 (£ 7.50) | £ 10.00 (£ 7.50) |
Fest - 13th August 2008
"the boyish lyricism of this beguiling pair...."
One Scot, one Londoner, do France – whilst trying to negotiate the effects of maternal death. The two lovely lads, (one has to fight the urge to haul them off stage and take them home to your mum), are armed with nothing but a small square of stage and an old boarding-school trunk. On the screen behind them are projected soft and artsy images depicting views from the car window. The idea of travel is further enforced by the voice-over; half sat-nav, half therapist, pointing out road signs, city names, traffic hotspots and providing philosophically astute observations on death.
This combination of the metaphysical and the ordinary is what makes By the Way successful. There are lines that would usually make you wince but there is something in the boyish lyricism of this beguiling pair that dissolves the pretension of the script. The characterisation is strong, the pair meet and transform into several convincing and comedic characters, all of whom have also lost mothers.
The writing in this piece, though at times a little contrived, remains alluring. Allowing her characters to appear as semantic magicians, Noëlle Renaude’s lists of objects, colours and sensations are at once strange and powerful. The script is peppered with onomatopoeic mastery that makes you scribble down quotes and mouth sentences which satisfy the palette. The artistry of the writing does damage narrative coherence, rendering it a little difficult to gain a satisfying grasp of what the show is actually about. But the powerful charm of the boys and some astute directing will make you forgive this beautifully written piece.
Metro - 14th August 2008
"warm performances, full of charm and humour - beautifully written, touching and clever"
Two friends are driving through France on a road trip to the sea, their fun coloured by the fact that both have lost their mothers. On the way they meet a wistful waitress mourning her mum; an eccentric hotelier whose mother's ghost haunts the first floor; and a man going to his son's wedding as a single parent.
Taking on all the roles, Stavros Demetraki and Kevin O'Loughlin deliver warm performances, full of charm and humour. Using only one prop - a large trunk - they make their journey and the people they meet entirely believable.
Playwright Noëlle Renaude's evocative, elegiac prose is beautifully written, touching and clever; but its poetic nature is sometimes difficult to follow in a theatrical context. The play's fragmentary dialogue and abstract approach occasionally baffles, particularly when there is a swift switch from one character to the next. It's almost as though the script is moving too fast for the players.
Still, the overarching theme of death binds it together to some extent. Renaude handles the topic with a delicate, light-hearted touch: for a play so singularly about death and mourning, it leaves you feeling surprisingly uplifted.
Until Aug 25 (not Aug 19), Pleasance Courtyard (V3), 2.05pm. www.pleasance.co.uk
Three Weeks - 12th August 2008
"heartfelt performances as friends and a host of (other) characters met along the way "
This gentle play is a poetically composed journey through shared grief and mother-child
relationships. Following the deaths of their mothers, and accompanied by the dulcet tones of their sat-nav, two friends drive across France in search of the sea and respite from sorrow. They find neither. Stavros Demetraki and Kevin O’Loughlin give heartfelt performances as these perturbed friends and a host of characters met along the way, O’Loughlin’s face particularly speaking volumes without him having to utter a
word. The staging is refreshingly concise, allowing space for the patterns of memory to form, but most interesting is the contrast of the bewildered consciousnesses of
our protagonists with the comic surety of the sat-nav’s (almost maternal) guidance.
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