One Four All

I enjoy watching one act plays – they provide for a concentrated burst of theatre and can often pack as much emotion and meaning into their short running time as their full length equivalents.  So I was fascinated to see what Second Thoughts had in store in One Four All – badged as a celebration of one act plays. 

The evening kicked off with Moving On by Sarah Campbell, set around the clearance of a house that had been occupied by a recently deceased actress, Miranda (Samantha J. Nicholas).  In a nice touch, she had been waiting for us in ghostly form in the auditorium as we entered, casting her eye over the audience with a proprietary air.  It turned out that Richard (Dwayne K. Dawson, who also directed), the grumpy and rather idle boss of the house clearance firm, could hear (and, later, see) ghosts, Sixth Sense style.  This led to a number of discussions between him and Miranda, exploring both her acting history and regrets (particularly a missed opportunity to play Shakespeare’s Juliet) and his complex relationship with his family. 

Into the mix was then thrown ex-wife Chrissy (Stephanie Jepson-Sensicle), clearly with unresolved feelings for her former husband and, it turned out, a lost baby; and assistant Sam (Second Thoughts newcomer Imogen Clarke), who may or may not be Richard’s child (this was left somewhat ambiguous), but who certainly was trying to win his approval (and a job).  It became clear that each character needed to ‘move on’ from something, and the narrative threads were clearly and intelligently woven together by the performers.  An interesting play, and a strong start to the night.

The themes of death and memorial that were established in Moving On were continued and considerably expanded upon, in the second play of the night, Dig for the Diggers by Lynn Brittney, directed by Rachel Alcock.  This was an absorbing play, which began with a pair of lab-coated technicians (Imogen Clarke and Demié), sifting respectfully through a pile of bones.  These belonged, at least in part, to Australian World War I soldier Mick Feeney (a robust performance from Adam Schumacher).  For all his cocky charm and confidence, we later discovered that Mick had died in terror during the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916.  An impressively conceived and constructed memorial to the dead formed the centrepiece of the staging of the play. 

Later in the play, we met one of Mick’s descendants, Stu (Ian McLean), who movingly described the impact of his great-grandfather’s loss on his family, including his grandmother – the longed-for daughter that Mick never met – as the ghost of Mick maintained a running commentary on the history that he never knew.  David Hope, as the Director of a Memorial Ceremony for the reinterring of Mick’s bones, imparted a good deal of interesting information about the Battle of Fromelles – a tragic, senseless engagement that I previously knew nothing about.  The play ended with Mick’s remains safely and respectfully buried, and his spirit meeting up with that of his wife Mabel (Samantha J. Nicholas), in a poignant and powerful conclusion to a very good performance from the whole cast.

Into the second half, and themes of loss and regret resurfaced once again in Set in Stone, a new play written by Second Thoughts member Georgina Monk, who also starred as Evelyn, alongside John, played by Adam Schumacher (who also directed.)  The play was set at the Rollright Stones, representations of three of which were dotted around the acting space.  There were some nice references to the folk history of the place, such as the apparently impossibility of counting the same number of stones more than once. 

The play was formed of four scenes, the first three of which were centred on moments in the relationship between Evelyn and John, from their first visit to the stones, a spur of the moment visit by two apparent strangers, through to further visits as John’s health declined and, eventually, Evelyn was left to rail against her loss alone.  The final scene brought us full circle, as a different couple, who looked very much like John and Evelyn, met at the stones. 

This was an interesting and thought provoking play, examining human relationships through the passing of time and asking whether those moments are destined to be repeated through eternity.  Recurring motifs, such as the croaking of a frog, the hooting of an owl, and the leaving of an offering, provided a linking thread through the storyline, and the performances clearly demonstrated the blossoming love and respect between the two characters.  It would certainly be interesting to see what other stories Georgina may have up her sleeve!

The evening was brought to a close with the clever and funny play All By Myself, by Robert Scott.  Here we met the shipwrecked Larry (Emerson Fairclough), bemoaning his loneliness as he sat all alone on his desert island (amusingly surrounded by Ikea and Fedex boxes, perhaps in a nod to the movie Castaway).  However, in a clear case of be careful what you wish for, his solitude was soon punctured as Pemberton (Christa Gaskell) wandered blithely in, to explain that not only is Larry not alone, but there are in fact a plethora of fellow castaways, as, in quick succession, Ashworth (Stephanie Jepson-Sensicle), Miller (Tracy Humphries), and Nicholson (Chloe Wiltshire) all made their entrances. 

There followed a farcical and often quite absurd series of conversations between the five, which often reminded me of the writing of Magnus Mills.  Later, a discussion about their food sources provided a clear nod to the famous ‘Four Yorkshireman’ sketch, and Monty Python’s question ‘what have the Romans ever done for us’ cropped up in an different format as the castaways debated the merits of leaving their island.  Eventually, Larry’s pleas to his companions were switched around as they left without him, leaving him in blissful solitude once more – or is he...?

Well-performed by its cast, and directed by Lynda Jepson with a clear eye to the absurdity of it all, thematically this play was quite different to the three that preceded it.  Although I did wonder whether the characters hounding Larry might actually be spirits, or figments of his imagination, as perhaps hinted at by the chorus of disembodies voices that filled the auditorium at the play’s end. 

My thanks to Second Thoughts for their customary warm welcome, and for staging such an interesting and intelligently performed sequence of plays.  They certainly provided plenty of food for thought.  Well done to you all and I look forward to seeing you again soon. 

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