Anjana Vasan and Phil Dunster in Brace Brace at Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. Photo credit Helen Murray
Ranged either side of a simple runway playing area, the audience essentially act as passengers within an enclosed aircraft cabin which forms Anna Reid ’s nifty set. This is further enhanced by Paul Arditti ’s evocative sound design which plays with pneumatics and engine noises all but placing us at 40,000ft, whilst Simeon Miller ’s overhead and floor lighting completes a neat technical staging.
The scenario suddenly takes a serious turn for the worse and the honeymooners’ loved-up chattiness morphs from cheeky familiarity into an altogether more terrifying action sequence, during which a deranged, would-be hijacker (Craige Els who also plays two further roles within the piece) storms the cockpit, renders the captain unconscious and causes the plane to climb so steeply that its engines cut-out, causing it to nosedive.
Daniel Raggett (who recently directed the excellent Accidental Death of an Anarchist in the West End) has guided his trio of players with style and wit by purposefully utilising the close proximity of the audience to create tension and jeopardy. Sometimes, the intimacy and vehemency of the actors’ exchanges is pleasingly inclusive, whilst at other moments we feel as unwelcome voyeurs forced to witness a man’s emotional breakdown or a woman’s apoplectic fury at society’s naivety. In the aftermath of the hijacking, the couple’s roles in its outcome and their different reactions to the unsurprising PTSD episodes which it triggers in them both, are explored, along with public and media perceptions of heroes, villains and victimhood.
Oli Forsyth is this year’s recipient of the Jerwood New Playwright award, and his sharp and thought-provoking script is delivered by a confident, naturalistic and well-rehearsed cast of players, all of whom are at the top of their game. Their exchanges range from sweet, endearing and supportive, to bitter, petulant and accusatory. The dramatic hijack sequence is staged in such a way as to cause discomfort to anyone seated in the front row, and the final scene (which ties up some loose ends), reveals precisely how a slightly built, 5’6” woman, managed to overcome a strongly built, 6’4” male. Let’s just say it’s pretty gruesome.
Brace Brace plays at Royal Court to 9th November.
