Monday 16th until Saturday 21st August 2010 @ Alma Tavern Theatre, Bristol

Philip Ridley’s play, Leaves Of Glass, conjures a crisp and horrid texture inside our minds. One in which you can imagine these fragile yet free leaves swirling vulnerably around in the wind, something you tend to avoid when your crunching down the autumn path. Leaves of glass; what a fantastic image to enter a performance with.

However, the title is just a doormat to the poetry which is housed inside the text as the script is trickling like a bumbling spring with lyrical appreciation. Yet I feel the playwright has substituted plot as a result of this excessive imagery and the poetry is camouflaging a practicably weak plot. Although his script is a poignant portrait of a turbulent family who are a product of their own faults and destructions, the twist at the end didn’t feel like much of a twist.

If we think of the title as the plays doormat then the set design would be its park bench. As we enter the space we are greeted with a fantastic, metaphorically structured set one which is exciting and invigorating. Paint is splattered across a stark white floor while a large easel stands empty and a glass cabinet with an array of glass bottles and trinkets waiting along the shelves stands center stage at the back of the space. But as the play progressed, I began to feel more and more disappointed with the set because I feel that its dramatic ability wasn’t being utilised as much as it could have been. Though the set was aesthetically pleasing, the characters seemed to approach it like they would a park bench: meet, greet and leave again.

Transporting this profound and poignant imagery to the stage would be a grueling if not exciting task for any theatre company. The cast pulled off some superb performances with the male leads showing the hidden depths of their acting psychology. Scenes such as the child molestation one were intense and the stylistic choice of using candles to illuminate the characters faces engaged the audience visually. This visual connection with the audience was something I feel the performance lacked slightly as at times monologues and scenes, which were heavily script based, were very long and we had nothing to engage us with.

A visual projection might have really boosted this plays visual stimuli. Its purpose would have been more seatbelt then the park bench glass cabinet. The imagery of the title could have really worked as a kaleidoscope swirling around the back of the set.

However, despite a couple of reservations this was a haunting and painful exploration into one family’s past and their secrets. With previous plays such as Some Voices and Betrayal, be excited for what this young theatre troupe brew will bubble up with next.

www.almataverntheatre.co.uk

Kayleigh Cassidy