May 26, 2009
New must-see writing is on this week at Wadham’s Moser Theatre: Circle Line, by Tom Costello, might be cheesily taglined ‘love on the London Underground’, but it is much more than that; and even that could not be so glibly called ‘love’. The stage is unelaborate; the cast is minimal, and mostly made up of instrumentalists-slash-extras, but the story itself, sincere and poignant, is told with beautiful style and atmosphere, and it is one of the best things I’ve seen so far this year.
The play opens acoustically, with Aisha Mirza’s voice like a summer breeze setting the atmosphere, and dazzling throughout the rest of the play. The story involves the seemingly uncomplex lives of only two people: the free-spirited, sceptical Amina (played by Mirza) in search her lost friend Tasneem, and the idealistic, if somewhat agoraphobic Brian (Chris Greenwood), whom we first meet four years after their initial turbulent affair, when they were brought together on the tube during the July 2005 bombings. The narrative is non-chronological, made of snatched threads and flashbacks through which we piece together this relationship between strangers, with sometimes throttlingly dramatic scene changes inbetween. Splendid, powerful acting from both Mirza and Greenwood makes your forget this drama only involves two lives, and the script itself is marvellously written: at times poetic, characters waxing philosophical, other times full of quirky, laugh-out-loud humour and bathos.
Though described as a musical, it doesn’t quite fit into the conventional mould – the music, written by lead Mirza, are not the blasting numbers of the West End, but simple acoustic songs, reminiscent of Laura Marling, sometimes soulful, often whimsical, delicate melodies that people continued humming during the interval. Accompanied by the capable three-man band of fiddle, guitar and melodion (Edmunds; Howarth; Withworth), Mirza’s whispered tones and Greenwood’s trained vocals complemented each other perfectly; these interludes intersperse the drama and craft much of it. Little touches made big impact, producing a provoking piece of theatre: neat prop changes, some effective choreography, and the use of a projector was particularly clever, casting evolving images and silhouettes artistically in time to the drama of the actors below.
The play defied my initial expectations; to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I found myself utterly moved by the final, evocative conclusion. Greenwood and Mirza paint a powerful story, perhaps not a fairytale, but then it is set in London: a simple collision of lives – interwoven tales telling who they are and how they got there.
The play opens acoustically, with Aisha Mirza’s voice like a summer breeze setting the atmosphere, and dazzling throughout the rest of the play. The story involves the seemingly uncomplex lives of only two people: the free-spirited, sceptical Amina (played by Mirza) in search her lost friend Tasneem, and the idealistic, if somewhat agoraphobic Brian (Chris Greenwood), whom we first meet four years after their initial turbulent affair, when they were brought together on the tube during the July 2005 bombings. The narrative is non-chronological, made of snatched threads and flashbacks through which we piece together this relationship between strangers, with sometimes throttlingly dramatic scene changes inbetween. Splendid, powerful acting from both Mirza and Greenwood makes your forget this drama only involves two lives, and the script itself is marvellously written: at times poetic, characters waxing philosophical, other times full of quirky, laugh-out-loud humour and bathos.
Though described as a musical, it doesn’t quite fit into the conventional mould – the music, written by lead Mirza, are not the blasting numbers of the West End, but simple acoustic songs, reminiscent of Laura Marling, sometimes soulful, often whimsical, delicate melodies that people continued humming during the interval. Accompanied by the capable three-man band of fiddle, guitar and melodion (Edmunds; Howarth; Withworth), Mirza’s whispered tones and Greenwood’s trained vocals complemented each other perfectly; these interludes intersperse the drama and craft much of it. Little touches made big impact, producing a provoking piece of theatre: neat prop changes, some effective choreography, and the use of a projector was particularly clever, casting evolving images and silhouettes artistically in time to the drama of the actors below.
The play defied my initial expectations; to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I found myself utterly moved by the final, evocative conclusion. Greenwood and Mirza paint a powerful story, perhaps not a fairytale, but then it is set in London: a simple collision of lives – interwoven tales telling who they are and how they got there.