Review New Writing Festival
THEATRE Having toddled along to three of the finalists in this year’s Southwest Scriptwriters’ new writing fest, Venue can report that the future looks reasonably bright for the region’s scribes. First up, Didier Desmedt’s ‘The Return’ centred on a mother and daughter-inlaw as they trawled through memories of their departed menfolk. There was some good catty co-dependency between the two women, but after a while things just settled into a well-worn groove of regret, anger, retribution and remorse. The play could probably say what it did in around half the time – although the flashback scenes between the older woman and her long-lost husband were much subtler than the rest. Kevin Cattell’s ‘Resting’, about a compulsive liar, was better, with some sharp verbal sparring and a genuinely interesting character in Kate, with whom our hero meets his mendacious match.
Peter Kesterton’s winning ‘Air Guitar’, though, was in a different league, with two exceptionally well-drawn characters and some sharp, on-thebutton themes. It centred on ancient rivalries, now taken to some sinister extremes, between two brothers: Mike, a clubbable London media whore, and Ed, bright, bitter and withdrawn, now retreated to a remote Cornish caravan to plot the overthrow of Western capitalism with ricin and stuff. Everything, from the brothers’ guardedness to Ed’s scared, angry fanaticism, was immensely welI-drawn and plausible, and the language was peppered with sharp humour. A script with a proper edge and relevance, which deserves to be brought to a wider audience. (Steve Wright)
NEW WRITING FESTIVAL TOBACCO FACTORY, BRISTOL, 19-23 JULY. |
