Static by Graeae Theatre Company
Robert Softely reviews Graeae's latest performance at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Written by Dan Rebellato and produced with Suspect Culture, Static tells the story of a young woman who has lost her husband. In the process the play fuses music, dialogue, sign language and audio description to explore our complex response to love and loss.
Flyer for Static
"This isn’t a show just about music, this is a show that’s also about everything else." This line, adapted from the show itself, pretty much sums up Static. In covering the ideas of death, loss, religion, exclusion and music, it is a truly theatrical melting pot. As someone who knows both of these company’s work pretty well, I was very keen to see what would happen when they came together. The result? Hmm ... interesting.
Static centres on the story of Sarah, a woman who has recently lost her husband, and examines the lengths we go to in coping with grief. Her husband, Chris, was deafened during an accident not long after they met and it’s his love of music that provides the core catalyst of the play. After Chris’s death, Sarah enlists the help of their friend Martin to decipher the message which he has left for her in a compilation tape. The production explores all of these themes of loss, be it of a loved one, music or of oneself, with poetry and deftness, beautifully crafted by elegant direction and skilful performances given by all four members of the cast.
I wholly admit that this is a sorry admission, but it was so refreshing to see a show where there was no division between the disabled and non-disabled actors in terms of quality of performance – this felt like a truly inclusive piece of theatre. Pauline Lockhart gives an emotionally charged performance as Sarah, managing to avoid the easy temptation of reducing the character to a hysterical weeping widow. In playing the omnipresent (but never seen by the other characters) Chris, Steven Webb signs with such energy and passion that he demands attention.
Pauline Lockhart, Steven Webb and Tom Thomasson star in Static. Photo: Douglas McBride
The production is not without it’s faults. The use of sensory bombardment for first twenty minutes of the show is clearly intended to alienate the audience while the action on stage is highly emotional and engaging. These contradictory factors leave you confused, which may well be their intention, but nonetheless this is unsatisfying. Furthermore, the use of differing scripts for the spoken play as opposed to the play told through BSL is a radical convention, but I couldn’t help wonder if the hearing audience had an ultimately more satisfying experience than a deaf person might have had.
The emotional impact of the play is sometimes hampered by Dan Rebellato’s script, with it’s staccato scenes and use of musicophile language which often excludes the audience. This metaphorical exclusion is clearly intended to reflect the experience of the deaf audience member who usually feels such when attending a non-interpreted piece of theatre, which is a valid experience to give, but is excluding one sector of your audience to highlight this issue really achieving anything?
Ultimately though, this play resonates with the level of emotional integrity which the subject of loss and death demands. Without crossing over in to sentimentality, it conveys a truth about the devastating loss of one’s partner that will have every audience member turning to the person they’re with and demand that they ‘just don’t dare die’. (ps. If the person next to you isn’t your partner, this may be a little inappropriate)
Touring until 10 May. See www.graeae.org/static for further information.
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last updated: 2008-03-07 14:30:59