Yours Truly (play)
Jun. 29th, 2016 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandraThis is Albert Belz’s play for Te Rēhia Theatre company - the other play of his I’ve seen was Awhi Tapu, which was much more along the expected Māori playwright line (small forestry town, economy dying, young people running out of options make bad choices) whereas this is cheerfully Victorian gothic melodrama and is all about Jack the Ripper. The Ripper parts of this are basically Alan Moore’s From Hell with less architecture and, sadly, no Inspector Abberline – heir presumptive to British throne gets shopgirl pregnant and secretly marries her, Queen Victoria assigns William Gull to hunt out and destroy all witnesses, Gull & the Freemasons go a bit batty in the process. Instead of Abberline as a protagonist we get Walter Sickert, the artist (and another candidate for the identity of Jack the Ripper in some theories), who is supposed to be keeping a watchful eye on Prince Eddie and instead falls for Mary Kelly. Despite all odds - and numerous corpses - there is technically a happy ending.
Lots of strong performances in this play, especially Stephen Brunton as William Gull, who starts as a charismatic lecturer taking the audience through an anatomy lesson and then becomes almost seamlessly unhinged. Mary Kelly (Ascia Maybury) is also very good. Blair Strang as Sickert – it’s not a bad performance, but the part is a tough one; it anchors the whole show, and he's sold to us as the viewpoint character, but Sickert’s main decision, which sets all the murders in motion – to tell Victoria – happens off-stage. We see him afterwards, drunk and regretful, but we have no idea why he went through with it in the first place. He also knows what Gull is doing but makes no real attempt to stop him (or join him – something Gull suggests) and although he does take some action towards the end, he also gives Gull Kelly’s address and key – and it’s unclear whether he’s doing so because he has a cunning plan (which would undermine the ending) or if he's just a bit dim. There are other odd bits that don't come to anything - Sickert's insistence on Kelly tightening the scarf around her neck while he paints her, the ouija board session with Kelly and her roomate/lover that goes horribly wrong - this last was a great scene, one of the creepiest things I've seen on stage for quite some time, but it's left hanging there without a resolution.
Despite these issues, though, an excellent production, and I'd be keen to see what the group does next. Awhi Tapu also had a bit of a dud ending, if I recall rightly, so I'd be more cautious about the playwright.
Lots of strong performances in this play, especially Stephen Brunton as William Gull, who starts as a charismatic lecturer taking the audience through an anatomy lesson and then becomes almost seamlessly unhinged. Mary Kelly (Ascia Maybury) is also very good. Blair Strang as Sickert – it’s not a bad performance, but the part is a tough one; it anchors the whole show, and he's sold to us as the viewpoint character, but Sickert’s main decision, which sets all the murders in motion – to tell Victoria – happens off-stage. We see him afterwards, drunk and regretful, but we have no idea why he went through with it in the first place. He also knows what Gull is doing but makes no real attempt to stop him (or join him – something Gull suggests) and although he does take some action towards the end, he also gives Gull Kelly’s address and key – and it’s unclear whether he’s doing so because he has a cunning plan (which would undermine the ending) or if he's just a bit dim. There are other odd bits that don't come to anything - Sickert's insistence on Kelly tightening the scarf around her neck while he paints her, the ouija board session with Kelly and her roomate/lover that goes horribly wrong - this last was a great scene, one of the creepiest things I've seen on stage for quite some time, but it's left hanging there without a resolution.
Despite these issues, though, an excellent production, and I'd be keen to see what the group does next. Awhi Tapu also had a bit of a dud ending, if I recall rightly, so I'd be more cautious about the playwright.
