The Shared Experience theatre company have enjoyed no small measure of success since their inaugural production in 1988, growing over the last decade to secure a West End residence and a dedicated band of followers. Having performed three adaptations written specifically for the company by Helen Edmundson, it was only a matter of time before they turned their attentions to her award-winning 1993 play The Clearing.
The Clearing is set in seventeenth century Ireland, as Cromwell’s men are systematically transporting women and children, and forcing royalists off their lands. Robert Preston, a Cromwellian sympathiser disinherited in England but possessed of lands in Ireland, is married to Madeleine, an Irish woman. When Madeleine’s childhood friend, Killaine, is taken by English soldiers she pleads to the English governer, Sir Charles Sturman, for her release. Sturman’s response is to order Madeleine and Robert to be transplanted to barren Connaught, in the west of Ireland.
The play opens to reveal a wall, weathered and crumbling, with a large wooden door at its centre. A tree growing behind the wall has lifted the paving slabs below and forced its way through the brickwork. Shared Experience often create dynamic sets, capable of taking on many physical forms. In The Clearing they have produced a much simpler space - still magical, and capable of being many places under a shifting canvas of light. Spots and highlights pick out individual characters as other areas of the stage are transformed, helping maintain flow and continuity. Bold side-lighting effects bring the textures of the set into stark relief and greys, browns, and earth tones highlight the bond between the characters and their land.
Within this setting, Edmundson explores themes of alienation and a conflict of culture that have a huge contemporary relevance, as the prosperous landowners of the play quickly become refugees, their lives at risk. It is the inherent differences in the culture and upbringing of Robert and Madeleine that strain their relationship.
The Irish characters are easily distinguishable within the play - feral, willful and impetuous. By contrast, the English are a very proper race. Edmundson’s characters are drawn with a broad brush. When Madeleine goes to Sturman he says “I understand love, and I understand its limitations.” “It has no limitations,” replies Madeleine. Little is left to the imagination about which side of the Irish sea emotion, love and affection lie, and which side cold-hearted duty and the dereliction of spirit. More politics and less partisanship could have rendered this relationship richer and more engaging.
Yet this telling of The Clearing is at once moving, entertaining and relevant. The story is convincingly and sympathetically realised, and the playing is universally accomplished. A worthy addition to the Shared Experience canon.

Harry Smith 28.05.02