Mydidae
****
The Other Room, Cardiff, Thu 24 May
Jack Thorne’s Mydidae is not one of his most well-known projects to date. The prolific writer of Harry Potter and The Curse Child, the This is England TV series, and various episodes of Skins and Shameless has had plenty of acclaim, but this relatively little-known play of his has to date mostly received just one brief London run in 2012. What better project then, for the first OtherLife Theatre production? OtherLife’s aim is to take plays that have to date shown only in the capital, giving them a moment in the sunshine elsewhere in the country (in this case, Cardiff), dragging the epicentre of theatre away; giving them another life, if you will.
The play tells the story of Marian (Isabella Marshall) and David (Matthew Raymond), examining their relationship over the course of one day in a claustrophobic bathroom. The couple start out as fairly simple archetypes – he a laddish type getting ready for a corporate meeting from a working-class background, she not far off the manic pixie dream girl archetype and middle-class – and the dialogue initially is witty and funny, closer to a comedy of the sexes amidst London millennials.
Things quickly take a much darker turn however, as we realise there’s a deep rot at the heart of the relationship. It’s here that Thorne’s incisive writing really cuts deep, examining the ways in which the two have responded to the relationship over time, as they try to find an antidote to their collective poison, each half trying to fix things but forever seeming to find news ways of letting hate and pain take over. As an exemplar of the claustrophobia and decay that’s at the heart of most bad relationships (especially between what you might call the upwardly mobile and otherwise seemingly well-balanced), Mydidae is consistently shocking and powerful. It’s also cutting in the way it depicts the respective class differences between the two characters – another barrier coalescing into communication breakdown.
The most crucial element of Thorne’s writing is how various bits of information are drip-fed to the audience, but not in a way where it produces cheap shocks and plot twists (a la The Usual Suspects or any kind of standard potboiler). Rather it reconstitutes their relationship in such a way that we are forced to view previous proceedings anew (giving this reviewer impetus to watch once more).
With all that said, if it wasn’t for the brave and honest performances by Isabella Marshall and Matthew Raymond, Mydidae would not have worked as well as it did. Credit must go to them and director Simon Reeves for crafting two brilliant, natural performances out of Thorne’s writing. The sets and lighting too, stick more towards naturalism (and hey, there’s even running water for the bathtub!). All of which is perfectly suited to bringing out the storm at the heart of Mydidae.
words Fedor Tot
Mydidae runs until Sat 6 Jun. Tickets: £10. Info: www.otherroomtheatre.com