Double Feature

NIGHTWATCHMAN by Prasanna Puwanarajah

THERE IS A WAR by Tom Basden

Double Feature 2 in The Paintframe by Alexandra Hills.
New Talent at the National: Cerebral Thrills Guaranteed.

For the first time, the National Theatre has transformed its cavernous studios to showcase new talent. Music from ‘The Paintframe Band’ wafts through the labyrinthine industrial space as spectators take their seats on makeshift benches overlooking a minimalist set. This is the National, the bastion of modern British theatre going ‘pop-up’: awaiting us is an evening of slapdash, ‘make-do’ theatre with a fizzing energy to match. Catch it if you can, six weeks and it’ll all be over.

 As the lights dim over a green strip, Puwanarajara’s Nightwatchman opens with Abirami on the evening before the biggest cricket match of her life. She’s received the call; tomorrow she will be batting for England in the Women’s Test Match at Lord’s. Oozing intoxicating self-confidence, she is rearing take her place in cricketing history. Yet, as her last-minute training session goes on, darkness falls on Abirami as she confronts her demons in the build-up to tomorrow’s showdown. After all, she will be playing Sri Lanka. ‘I am English, for life’, she shouts at the bowling machine. But she is also Sri Lankan, and a Tamil. As Abirami’s monologue turns from cricket to politics, an incisive critique of the family’s past involvement in the Sri Lankan civil war emerges. A far cry from high teas and Test Match Special, Nightwatchman is a loud-mouthed one-woman tour-de-force about one Englishwoman’s courage to face her heritage on the cricket field.

After the interval, the spectators return to a completely transformed space, a marching band weaves through the stalls as a whooshing sound of helicopters is followed by the thud of sandbags on the stage. After the Nightwatchman’s tirade about the absurdities of civil war, we are plunged into that very reality. This is a dystopian vision of Britain torn between the Blues and the Greys who have been engaged in brutal combat for as long as anyone can remember. Anne, a young doctor, signs up for the war effort against the Greys. Her idealism and self-importance are slowly chipped away as she faces the incomprehensible violence of war. Yet this play does not wallow or moralise, it is full of dark humour and sharp dialogue reminiscent of Sarah Kane’s sardonic depictions of human brutality. Clowns are employed on the front to entertain child soldiers; the classic British stiff upper lip prevails in a prison camp as inmates discuss their favourite fruits to pass the time. Tom Basden’s There is a War combines tragedy and farce as the meaninglessness of the war and its human cost become apparent. Although the play labours its point a little heavily, this is theatre for thrill seekers: guns are fired, severed body parts fly about the stage, and hilarious dialogue follows emotional breakdowns. With its convincing cast and razor-sharp satire, There is a War is a theatrical adrenaline rush which should not be missed.


Double Feature 2 in The Paintframe by Oli Gordon.

If you follow the thick line of pink and yellow paint splatter to a small door just beyond the Cottesloe, you’ll find the airy expanse of the Paintframe and two provocative new plays.

In Prasanna Puwanarajah’s Nightwatchman, we meet Abirami, a professional cricketer, standing alone before a bowling machine in final preparations for her debut for the England against Sri Lanka the next day. As the evening draws on, left with her thoughts, Abirami’s relationships with those around her begin to unravel, centring on her deceased father, her uncle and his connections with the militant group the Tamil Tigers and her own sense of identity. Stephanie Street is captivating as Abirami holding the audience in the palm of her hand. Sometimes strong and sometimes tender, Abirami becomes a woman laid bare on a moral and ethical cliff edge in Street’s capable hands. I’ll admit my knowledge of both cricket and Sri Lankan politics is not exactly extensive but this didn’t impair my enjoyment of the play and great effort has been taken by all to ensure this is the case.  Director Polly Finlay keeps things simple (save for a bit of technical wizardry with Merlin the ball machine) and lays focus on Abirami’s inner crisis, resulting in an intimate and surprisingly powerful piece. In ignorance, you can could away from Nightwatchman with the view that it is a play about women’s cricket and a somewhat under addressed political issue but those that look closer will see it’s much more than that. This play is about the power of human belief, the strength of your convictions and how the world around you and the choices you make in it shape your identity.

Leaving the world of cricket behind, the sound of Forces Radio ushers in both the interval and the second part of this Double Feature, Tom Basden’s There is a War. On returning to the space, Abibrami’s cricket net has vanished and the designer for both plays, Soutra Gilmour, has replaced it with a Borrowers style war zone. In There is a War there is indeed a war, more specifically a long civil war between the blue’s and the greys. Our heroine is a young newly enlisted blue doctor, Anne, keen to do her bit for the war effort. On her long, perilous and frankly hilarious journey to the hospital she has been assigned to, Anne is shot at multiple times, captured and subjected to a series of agonising impressions form wandering entertainer, now minus one assistant, Stewart De Lune (Oliver Birch). Ably lead by Phoebe Fox’s resilient, determined and strong willed Anne, this truly is an ensemble piece with solid and charming performances all round. Bursting with characters that ebb and flow in and out of the action from military nannies to entertain child troops to fame grabbing protesters; There is a War is a dark, humorous and poignant comment on the manipulation of the masses and the impact of war. Director Lindsey Turner and the company present a strong and consistent vision of this warped world that oozes comedy, tension and moral questions from every bleeding bullet wound.

The Paintframe is a truly intriguing place to spend an evening and although stylistically very different, these two plays compliment each other perfectly, both asking us if we will stand up for what we believe in. Here you are promised an entertaining, enjoyable, exciting and well crafted evening of theatre at its finest.