More often than not, playwrights do like to tease and
holdback information from its audiences, but can this agenda lead to an
audience to feel isolated and confused? The Orange Tree Theatre's production of
Alice Birch’s new play, ‘Little Light’ does not exactly makes sense until the
very end of this challenging play, having expressed this, the performances were
wonderfully conveyed.
‘Little Light’ is set in a house by the sea ,where we are acquainted
with married couple, Alison and Teddy who have a number of odd characteristics
as Teddy decides to demolish the staircase and to deny answering the telephone
that keeps ringing. They are waiting for one invited guest to arrive for dinner
that's held annually. Alison's younger sister, Clarissa arrives drenched as it
has been raining; however, when she steps through the door, Alison becomes
quite possessed and turns nasty to her sister as there is a situation that has
caused such a huge wedge between them. At the dinner table and the meal
provided questions whether Teddy and Alison are in a mental state of decay as
Alison tries to force her heavily pregnant sister to drink wine as they always
drink it at dinner and eat the same main course and desert each time. Conversely,
Clarissa has asked her boyfriend, Simon to attend, and they are eating a
different main course and desert. On the other hand, he does not know of the
families weird traditions, which causes more friction between the two sisters.
Alison is tormenting her sister for some reason, and when we are informed of
what happened to Alison and Teddy's daughter you can see why they are not
emotionally and mentally steady. Simon despises Alison and Teddy's treatment
towards Clarissa and request that they must leave, but Alison has other ideas;
such as locking the house door and cutting the telephone wire, and when they finally
vacate the premises, it enables you to argue whether you need to forgive unforgivable
circumstances. Birch's narrative is extremely exhausting, as you can never
figure out why one sister is black and why one sister is white, paradoxically,
it does convey how families can become dysfunctional due to a saddening moment.
One found the performances by the company of ‘Little Light’
were well-acted and depicted the strange functionality of Birch’s gruelling
dialogue. Lorna Brown is intriguing as the disturbing, Alison; especially when
we see her vindictive nature when she is serving her sister a section of fish
pie with a hairball inside, which is then served to the wrong person, which
causes him to be immeasurably sick. Yolanda Kettle is superb as Alison’s
tormented sister, Clarissa; principally when she becomes aggravated by Alison's
constant belittling and controlling attitude when she is forced to drink a glass
of wine which is seriously unhealthy. Paul Rattray is brilliant as Alison’s indecisive
husband, Teddy; mainly when he we see his pleasure in demolishing the staircase,
which does horrify Alison and is dumbfounded by his decision to do so, which
shows how wobbly he is psychologically.
David Mercatali’s direction is transcended here, but really
tiring as your left on tenterhooks wanting to see what might happen and the
reason why Alison is horrible to her sister, and you will be shocked by what
happened to cause resistance between the two of them. Madeline Girling’s design
is minimalistic, but in a positive way as the play itself has to remain the
most integral part as it's an intense experience, on the other hand, I was
transported to a rustic sea house. Overall, the experience of ‘Little Light’
was one that needed you to remain focused throughout as the flow of the
narrative is quite confusing at points.
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