How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found

I sometimes ask myself why I spend 90 minutes travelling to our capital city by train to watch the latest in West End plays and musicals when I can walk a mile down the road to see productions of equally high quality. Thankfully there was no hailing of cabs in Shaftsbury Avenue or Drury Lane on Friday evening when I visited Stone’s new Crown Wharf Theatre to review Stone Revellers in their latest production - ‘How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found’ - and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It was absolutely outstanding!

As Leo Capernaros notes in the programme, “despite winning a prestigious Arts Council award and being widely performed across the UK, I still wouldn’t call this a well-known play”, but his masterful direction and brilliant cast certainly did the play justice in this, its first local airing.

As we entered the theatre we had the opportunity to admire the open stage and cleverly designed composite set, the back and left walls of which had been built with an impressive number of large white storage boxes. There was a wash basin and toilet stage left, an abundance of metal filing cabinets side-by-side stage right and a tall step ladder upstage centre all of which we would see being cleverly used to great effect throughout the evening. So too would a large screen which was lowered several times during the production to project relevant images onto to enhance the stage action.

As the house lights dimmed, from a distant source we heard the end of the shipping forecast followed by eerie radio static fading in and out as the four ‘multi-rolers’ entered one by one, each picked out in individual spots as they spoke in turn to give vague clues as to the drama and story that lay ahead and which we would soon be following. Out of the blue, a digital bedside alarm clock went off announcing ”5.48 a.m. Wednesday” as the lights quickly changed to reveal Charlie for the first time, curled up on his bed!

Charlie is a marketing executive who lives in London. He has been working exceptionally  long hours and has become very depressed. As his life rapidly spirals out of control fuelled by drink and drugs, he has become a mental and emotional wreck. His employers, Red Consultancy, are less than sympathetic, especially after finding out that he has taken unauthorised time off work to attend the funeral of his mother whose remains he strangely carries about in a small urn.

Worrying about his job and the approaching period in which the company is expecting 110% commitment, Charlie is feeling very sorry for himself. He has had little sleep; his head aches and his mouth is dry. In the cold and dark of the early morning he goes through his usual routine, putting on his slippers, lighting a cigarette, going to the toilet, brushing his teeth and finally looking in the mirror. He clearly doesn’t like what he sees! His current state of health and past inefficiency at work has clearly taken its toll and started to catch him up. Tragically it seems the only way out is to discard his current identity and disappear completely and never be found. And so the story continues …

In the role of Charlie, Alec Voss gave one of the most exceptional and breathtaking performances I have seen for a long time in local theatre productions. His constantly changing moods, some verging on total paranoia, were totally believable and did much to add to the suspense - and sometimes amusement - of the piece as he cleverly drew us in through the twists and turns of his rather sad and melancholy journey through life, meeting some interesting characters on the way. The complete difference in his own character between the first and second acts was simply remarkable. Now featuring as Adam, gone were the quiet and almost distressed tones of Charlie to reveal a much stronger person in every aspect of his performance - his look, his voice, his bearing. You could be forgiven for thinking you weren’t watching the same actor, but you most definitely were!

Alec was simply masterful in his performance and totally word perfect in over 100 pages of Kennedy’s script. Apart from a brief exit in preparation for the final bows, he never left the stage once and thoroughly deserved the standing ovation he was given.

In both his roles, Alec was exceptionally well supported by the other cast members, four of which were appropriately listed as ‘Multi-Rolers’ in the programme. All four gave truly outstanding performances in each of the different roles they portrayed. Among them Katie Boyle appeared as an American client and doctor, Alex Maclvor was a priest and landlord, Dawn Huxley featured as a party goer and nurse and Oliver Freer played Danny and Barry. It’s not easy to successfully portray two or even three different characters in the same play and takes a lot more than a change of costume to look convincing. Each of these actors multi-rolled brilliantly in their different guises with highly sound and believable performances.

I thoroughly enjoyed Chris Stanley in his three separate roles as the Lost Property Man, Mike and the Pawn Man. This was another perfect opportunity for a very capable local actor to show his skills in portraying three completely different characters. And how well he accomplished it. For most of the time Chris appeared genuinely kind, helpful and supportive to Charlie but his demeanour clearly became a little more abrupt and less friendly in his roles of both Mike and The Pawn Man making it even more interesting for us to watch another side to his performance, especially in his conversations with Adam. His ability to display the odd spot of magic and sleight of hand didn’t go unnoticed either and was also very enjoyable.

I simply loved Bethany Grice’s portrayal of Sophie, especially in the later stages of the play, where she showed a real depth of emotion, dignity and respect in her conversations with both Adam and Charlie, endeavouring to help them make sense of the tragic journey through life they had taken. This was another very genuine and moving performance.

As you would expect, the new Crown Wharf Theatre is very well equipped with the very latest high quality sound system and LED stage lighting which was very well designed and operated throughout the production. I also thought the use of four white fluorescent tubes mounted around the stage were used to great effect in giving a more sinister feel to some of the scenes especially when the tubes flickered. The use of them to outline a triangular pathway on the stage for the bows was a touch of genius. So too was the use of box files as memorial stones in a cemetery – very clever! Throughout the whole production, the diligent work of the stage crew in ensuring the wide variety of props were placed in exactly the right places on the stage was faultless. I also loved how the metal cabinets doubled as very believable seats and tables.

But my final comments, and probably the most important, must go to Director, Leo Capernaros, his assistant, Charl Andrews, and producer, Craig Chesters, for their outstanding talent and sheer professionalism in staging this deeply moving production to the height of theatrical excellence. It clearly struck at the very heart of our identities and cleverly questioned how we define ourselves and who we really are.

Thank you for inviting me to your latest production and for your warm welcome. I look forward to making the relatively short trip down the road from home to see you all again in the future.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.