Royal Welsh College Of Music And Drama, Cardiff
Until Sat 10 Dec
“If you go, I don’t think you should come back.” In the age of divorce the tale of a parent turning away from their former life to never look back is disturbingly relevant. What looks to be a rather bleak and unsettling play is, well, a bleak and unsettling play – but in a good way.
Simon Stephens’ writing is largely talked of as bizarrely compelling, and his work Harper Regan is no different, transforming the largely idyllic image of the time we live in with a far darker picture of England. Travelling from Uxbridge to Stockport to Manchester and back, this is somewhat of a Northern Odyssey as 41-year-old Harper first visits her dying father then confronts the mother she hasn’t seen for two years. Place on top of that the fact that she leaves without even telling her husband and daughter, and we are faced with unnerving questions about the constrictions of familial relationships and the dark secrets which lie underneath.
Director Chris Rolls has already been nominated for the 2011 Olivier Awards for Les Parents Terribles, so he certainly seems to be the man to handle such a dark and complex job. Combine this with the best of upcoming talent at the Royal Welsh College Of Music And Drama, and this is sure to be a piece that will leave you with the much needed buzz of happy sadness to begin these dark winter nights.
Tickets: £10/£8. Info: 029 2034 2854 / www.rwcmd.ac.uk (CH)
