A Kind of Alaska
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Wed 10-Sat 13 Mar
What does it mean to be in a catatonic sleep for most of your life? How does this affect your relationships with other people? Can a human identity continue unscathed after a hiatus longer than the sentence for murder? New company Be:spoken try and explore these complex issues in their adaptation of Harold Pinter’s moving tale.
A Kind of Alaska is a story inspired by the real-life report Awakenings by American author and neurologist, Dr Oliver Sacks. Exploring how new drugs enabled patients to emerge from sleeplike states, Pinter’s work uses the surreal moment of awakening as a platform from which to explore the complexity of human relationships and identities.
Alaska elaborates on this medical account by presenting the striking construct of Deborah, a woman in her mid-forties who still has the passions, memories and sensations of the 16-year-old girl who entered the comatose state.
Caroline Bunce, who plays Deborah in this exciting production, calls the work an “extreme metaphor about the feelings we all share about the passing of time.” Indeed, in Alaska we witness the transformation of a story defined by its rarity into a gripping and universal insight into how the physical negotiates with the mental in creating identity.
Be:spoken are keen to experiment with their depiction of this tale; expect the creative incorporation of various dramatic philosophies that work to complement the Pinteresque thought.
Info: 029 2030 4400 / www.chapter.org
Just seen Alaska tonight – a rare chance to see it and much appreciated. Stimulating stuff and well received.
Thought it a bit flat and didn’t feel it connected. Missed most of Pinter’s incredible humour. I did like the Anna Massey touches from Deborah and felt a lot of her awakening and confusion. Tough call for the doctor to attract attention or interest.
Don’t see it as Pinter’s best – neither personal nor public politics. Thanks anyway. But what do the last two paragraphs in the preview notes above mean – they hardly make theatre more accessible.