Monday 24th May until Wednesday 9th June 2010 @ Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

Bristol Old Vic don’t do things in half measures. Their previous production, Juliet And Her Romeo, featured huge portions of scenery that swung in and out of view as well as getting dramatically elevated high above the stage, and with their current show, Far Away, associate director Simon Godwin obviously doesn’t want to be outdone. During his production of Caryl Churchill’s chilling and exhilarating Orwellian masterpiece, there are full sets on wheels that slowly loom towards the crowd, there is a huge steel wall that dominates the entire theatre as it falls with an ear-splitting clang and they’ve even got what looks like a fully working lorry onstage, menacingly reversing and offloading prisoners.

Set design on this scale is normally very distracting, the budget being swung around so brutally it drags attention away from the play (often highlighting a lack of faith in the production itself), but the fact is, here with Far Away, the huge props and huge sets really work and are completely justified. The menacing scale of everything effectively gets across each character’s insignificance in the face of everything that is going on around them while also intimidating the audience and making the auditorium feel tantalisingly claustrophobic. This, combined with some superb accompanying sound effects, subtly evocative lighting and impressive acting from the small but standout cast, makes Caryl Churchill’s cryptic epic just as dark, brutal, passionate and terrifying as it needs to be.

What is it all about though? The madness of war perhaps? Maybe the way in which we turn a blind eye to tragedy? Who knows? The best thing about this play is the way all the production elements combine so slickly and effectively that you are completely absorbed throughout; everything keeps you in the scene which means you can really focus on trying to decipher what this very abstract and dark play is all about.

www.bristololdvic.org.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com
Photos by Simon Annand