REVIEW: UNREACHABLE at Theatre at the Tabard 18 - 22 July 2023

‘An energetic production lacking a crucial spark’ ★★★ 

 

This is a tale of artistic obsession, of a film director chasing unreachable perfection and dragging a rag-tag group behind him. But while this sets the stage for an engaging and frequently funny piece of theatre, the result here is an energetic production lacking a crucial spark.

There are two great strengths to this play, however. The first is the script by Anthony Neilson, which offers meaty themes along with compelling characters in possession of easy to grasp motivations and struggles that we’re quick to sympathize with. Their character arcs expertly cut across one another, creating organic and engaging drama in the process.

The second is Oliver Bales’ performance as Carl, the film’s cinematographer. Bales is dynamic in his delivery and emotional range, holding the tension of whole scenes together all by himself, while also lending a charming physicality to his character that all culminates in a brilliant performance. Unfortunately, some of the other roles were crying out for a performance of this nuance and caliber but sadly missed out; a few lacked emotional presence, while others forwent charisma in favor of simply being loud.

Stage design is also a mixed bag – a decidedly minimalist approach has been taken, all black curtains and anonymous chairs, sparse and often not in a complimentary way. Many scenes felt they needed far more grounding than these bare necessities but making up for this solid audio alongside effective lighting changes, most notably in the single visual highlight of the night when the stage is hauntingly lit by electric candles for an intimate scene between two of the play’s main characters. If only the rest of the evening looked as good.

Finally, the downright bad must be noted, and here the most disappointing element is the formerly solid narrative, which takes a complete nosedive in quality just as the play is wrapping up. The ending is abrupt and a complete tonal shift from the rest of the play, detached from both the energy and themes of everything that came before. It’s possible something got lost in translation from page to performance, or that this pitfall is simply a fact of the script itself, but either way it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Still though, this is engaging theatre. The production maintains strong energy and momentum throughout that keeps things entertaining, so it’s unlikely to disappoint beyond the poor ending. However, with more refined performances and better staging, it could have been so much more.

Unreachable showing at Theatre at The Tabard 18th - 22nd July 2023

Box office: https://tabard.org.uk/whats-on/unreachable/

Directed by George King

Written by Anthony Neilson

Produced by Odd Dog Theatre

Reviewed by Harry Conway