On Thursday I went to see Amédée at The Rep.
What is it about?
A procrastinating writer (Amédée played by Trevor Fox) and his put upon wife(Madeline played by Josie Lawrence) are stuck in a single bedroom flat. As the play progresses we see the cracks in their relationship as they struggle to deal with the dead body in the bedroom. I give this away as this is an absurd play, and that this is clearly not what it is about.
What is it really about?
My friends who went to the play with me all came away with different ideas of what the play was about. Did the body represent the weight of creative expectation as Amédée struggling to write as he supported by the hard working Madeline? Or the stress of marriage as it breaks down and two peoples inability to deal with it? Or is it all Madeline head as she tries to deal with the death of her husband (Thanks to Rich). Because it does not tell you and leaves you figure out for your self1
The Playwright
The play was written by Eugéne Ionesco, a Romanian Playwright. His work is of the absurdist variety(Apparently2). The play was freely adapted by Sean Foley. When I heard the name it struck the distant memory bell. A quick google later revealed where the memory was from. I had heard The Remains of Foley and McColl on BBC Radio Seven 3
The Actors
Trevor Fox and Josie Lawrence where really good in their respective roles. Trevor Fox was easily distracted as a writer would be and prone to bouts colourful prose. Josie Lawrence play his wife in a fantastically manipulative and supportive way. She wants her husband to succeed and works at a old fashioned switchboard operator to pay for his way. But at the same time will try and twist his memories to suit her needs.
The Set
The set design was possibly one of my favourites from The Rep . It was in The Studio, the smaller stage at the Rep. But they brought a piece of Parisian internal decoration to Birmingham via Dudley. All brown woods and beige cloth. As well as well an arrange of sprouting mushrooms. The stand out was probably the giant puppet that sits as the centre piece of the play. At five metres tall it is quite hard to miss. This is all set in the back drop of country which is heading to the authoritarian side. Told through over heard conversations outside and radio news. Until the second half that is but I do not want to spoil.
The other play which I really enjoyed the set design was The Government Inspector.
Overall impressions.
I came away from the play thoroughly enjoying myself and was quite surprised by the play. If I have one criticism it was that I was surprised. The first act is bit slow get going but I think that was to with the setup of the second act as that was really enjoyable and very well staged.
One note, on night that I went to see it there was a British Sign Language Interpreter there. I did not find it distracting but it was strange that she was so far away from the stage. It would’ve been nice if they had figured away of fitting her in to the plot so she could be closer but then again it only for one performance.