FOUND111 is a beautifully intimate pop up theatre in the centre of London’s West End and is the perfect venue for the London Premiere of Unfaithful, a relatively new play by Owen McCafferty, which was first commissioned at The Traverse Theatre in 2014.The venue, being essentially a black box meant that there were options as to where to place the audience, the decision was made to perform in a traverse space and the stage was bare save for a double bed in the centre and cleverly designed sliding mirrors at the end. Because of these choices the connection with the characters and the piece was instantaneous and as the actors moved around the space we were part of the action from the start. The story opens mid way through a conversation between Tom (Sean Campion) and his wife Joan (Niamh Cusack) where Tom admits having an affair with a younger woman, Tara (Ruta Gedmintas), whom he met at a hotel. Tara is bored waiting for her escort boyfriend Peter (Matthew Lewis) to come home from work and decides to have a bit of fun. As the play develops and the stories become entwined we discover more about the two relationships and how the decisions we make individually will always affect other people, especially those closest to us. It also brings to light the idea that sometimes we actually need to make those decisions in order to help us move forward and appreciate what we already have. All four actors are brilliantly cast, and the precision in their choices made the relationships more interesting with regards to how differently people deal with similar situations depending on their make up and complexity of their own characteristics.
Definitely worth a visit
Niamh Cusack is a tour de force and commits to the central role with the resolute attitude of a woman in this situation, a master class in acting for anyone starting out in the business. She plays Joan with strength and determination, while also allowing us to see the humanity of the character that has been hurt to breaking point.
An experienced playwright, Owen McCafferty has clearly honed his craft, with carefully constructed observations this play questions relationships in all their different forms. By bringing a strong comedic element he enables the audience to laugh at some of the irrational things we, as humans do, when stuck in a relationship rut. This play is beautifully written and even the strong use of language flows seamlessly throughout and essential to convey the desperation of these characters when they momentarily lose their paths.
The piece was deftly directed by Adam Penford who manipulated form to create a piece that was very real at its core but abstract in its delivery. In particular the choreographed transitions between scenes successfully created not only the passage of time, but allowed the stories to entwine further during these moments. The characters crossed in and out of each others stories until the penultimate scene where all 4 shared the same bed albeit in a different time and place. This is an exciting piece of theatre in one of the most quirky venues around, if there was ever evidence of theatre moving with the times, this is it. Definitely worth a visit.
There’s a scene just before the interval of this harrowing, sometimes hilarious always illuminating play about conflict in the Congo which sums us just how complex the situation looks from a liberal western perspective.