March 4, 2010
Alfie's girlfriend has gone missing. She just left him and university one day without explanation. How can the people left behind come to terms with her sudden departure?
Charlotte Geater's is a straightforward premise, and Toffee is an interesting piece of drama. To start with almost nothing is revealed about the missing person at the centre of the story. We never learn her name, and although photographs are mentioned a lot we are never shown her face. In addition, this play continuously breaks the fourth wall, using the audience as characters who might help in the search. It's quite disconcerting, but it's testament to the writing how much we are still drawn into the play.
Very little actually happens and the focus is all on the characters. They were well-painted and by and large well realised. Ginger (Nouran Koriem) was excellent. She was a down-to-earth dispenser of advice, a student wise-woman. The interplay between her and her boyfriend Chris (Rory O'Keeffe) was very good and credible. Chris is a serious maths or science type. The boys are apt to be very literal, and Ginger has to break some larger truths to them. Whenever Ginger is in danger of getting too poetic, Jay (Nik Higgins) steps in. He's a great comedy figure, from the sweatshirt to the interjections, and he punctures the philosophical balloons.
Alex Sheppard had the hardest part, as Alfie. His character seemed less well-defined than the others, and his speeches were peppered with "I mean" as if he was extemporising. While I'm sure the spontaneity was a deliberate effect, he was treading a fine line between that and appearing undecided. On the other hand he is a man in limbo, and his stasis was tangible.
The ensemble scenes were the most watchable bit, I felt, and the way conversations were tugged in different directions by the characters was really dynamic. You probably won't have your biggest questions answered here, but watch it for the strong character-writing and for Ginger's ability to convey a whole backstory with her eyebrows.
Charlotte Geater's is a straightforward premise, and Toffee is an interesting piece of drama. To start with almost nothing is revealed about the missing person at the centre of the story. We never learn her name, and although photographs are mentioned a lot we are never shown her face. In addition, this play continuously breaks the fourth wall, using the audience as characters who might help in the search. It's quite disconcerting, but it's testament to the writing how much we are still drawn into the play.
Very little actually happens and the focus is all on the characters. They were well-painted and by and large well realised. Ginger (Nouran Koriem) was excellent. She was a down-to-earth dispenser of advice, a student wise-woman. The interplay between her and her boyfriend Chris (Rory O'Keeffe) was very good and credible. Chris is a serious maths or science type. The boys are apt to be very literal, and Ginger has to break some larger truths to them. Whenever Ginger is in danger of getting too poetic, Jay (Nik Higgins) steps in. He's a great comedy figure, from the sweatshirt to the interjections, and he punctures the philosophical balloons.
Alex Sheppard had the hardest part, as Alfie. His character seemed less well-defined than the others, and his speeches were peppered with "I mean" as if he was extemporising. While I'm sure the spontaneity was a deliberate effect, he was treading a fine line between that and appearing undecided. On the other hand he is a man in limbo, and his stasis was tangible.
The ensemble scenes were the most watchable bit, I felt, and the way conversations were tugged in different directions by the characters was really dynamic. You probably won't have your biggest questions answered here, but watch it for the strong character-writing and for Ginger's ability to convey a whole backstory with her eyebrows.