Review: Forsaking Others at White Bear Theatre, Kennington 14 -18 June
‘Forsaking Others’ will gaslight you into a realm of unresolved confusion' ★★★
I wouldn’t wish hangxiety on my worst enemy. For the unaware / sober, this is the feeling of heightened panic felt when intensely hungover. This is the vulnerable state in which we find Laura, on the morning after her hen do.
Empty bottles, glasses and streamers evidence that the previous night was a good one. Laura picks up a straw, bejewelled with a pink penis. This triggers a hazy but humorous memory from the night before. She smiles. But then there’s a call on the intercom. This buzzing sound will initiate a series of events that get more and more nightmarish, pushing the limits of Laura’s hangxiety to the max.
A stranger turns up out the blue and announces Laura’s fiancée is not who he seems. Lies build on one another becoming more and more ridiculous, but somehow never funny. This is because the audience sits behind Laura’s eyes, attempting to unravel the story that could shift her life’s trajectory off course.
The play is carried by the relationship between Laura (Anna Bonnett) and the stranger, Jess (Christie Silvester). Laura comes from money and talks down to Jess, allegedly from a lower-income family in Essex. Jess has slippery motives that we’re never quite sure about, with Silvester’s shifty acting potentially betraying ulterior motives. Bonnett’s performance is intensely emotional, portraying a character overwhelmed by doubt and forced to make difficult choices between conflicting versions of events.
While some word choices feel inappropriate, the dialogue is mostly brilliant. But it’s the pauses, pregnant with tension, that are the standout features of this performance. They force us to linger on the characters and discern motive or absorb anguish.
The play’s emotional register ramps up and up, as does the uncertainty. But what perhaps lets it down is the ending. It just feels a tad unfinished. The vicarious stress and confusion demand a pay-off that we are eventually denied. ‘Forsaking Others’ will gaslight you into a realm of unresolved confusion.
Forsaking Others at White Bear Theatre, Kennington 14 -18 June at 7:30pm
https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/Forsaking-Others
Angel Theatre Company
Written and Directed by John Patterson
14th-18th June at 7:30pm
The White Bear Theatre, Kennington
Reviewed by Danny Shaw
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