BLUD | THEATRE REVIEW
The Other Room, Porter’s, Cardiff, Thurs 3 Sept
words ALEX WREN
New theatre company otherMother’s play Blud explores the ties that bind families and communities together, seen through the eyes of hardcase Rita, the self-proclaimed leader of a football supporters gang and her younger, more vulnerable sister Lou. Sharing a birth mother but separated through the care system, the play sees the sisters attempt a reconnection against a backdrop of class, identity and family conflict. Set in a fictional football club locker room somewhere in the south of England, the play cleverly articulates the absurd world of football celebrity culture and the power of social media in defining identity.
Having kidnapped her former family care member Marcus James, the star striker of their hated rivals, because he had the temerity to change clubs, Rita has him tied up in the showers of the club’s now decrepit old ground – the team having moved to a depressingly anodyne commercial stadium. Whilst Rita listens to the derby match (minus said star striker) on a transistor radio that keeps losing its signal, her sister Lou arrives, with news about family that forces the siblings to re-evaluate their past and future.
The production is slick and well directed by Anna Poole, whilst award-winning writer Kelly Jones captures the relationship between the sisters through some effective and very witty dialogue. Recent RWCMD graduate Olivia Elsden as Lou gives a beautifully understated performance, revealing the character’s childlike naivety, whilst Francesca Marie Claire is all suppressed rage and violence as the older sister Rita. The 47-seat venue The Other Room at Porter’s, rapidly establishing a name for producing exciting and vital work, assists in creating a highly claustrophobic feel to the piece – the audience could almost be tied up with the unfortunate kidnapped footballer.
At times the complex familial relationships are confusing to follow, and the opening monologue seems unnecessary given that it sets up a dramatic convention that is then contradicted by the intensely naturalistic style of the rest of the play. But despite some of these dramatic incongruities (the unreliable radio commentary helpfully comes on at key moments of the football match) this is a powerful and affecting production. otherMother are a welcome addition to the Cardiff theatre scene and their inaugural production Blud positions them as a company to watch for the future.