Lying Doggo by Rhys E J Danino is an intriguing piece of new writing and well suited to the BT studio space. A simple scaffold tower, atop which was suspended a make-shift lamp, and some fishing paraphernalia are sufficient to recreate a lighthouse several miles off the Welsh coast. Here, four men arrive to carry out repairs, forcing them to live in close proximity, with little else for company except a tortoise named Fitzroy (after the shipping forecast) and an eerily calm sea, “lying doggo”. With a sense of claustrophobia and isolation nicely created, there is real potential in the play to deliver a strong story. However, the production lacks a little control and the necessary clarity to really captivate an audience.
There are several themes running throughout the play several of which were interesting although they rather ended up getting in each others way. The strongest and most powerful theme concerns a perceived Welsh inferiority complex. This was best exemplified by cleverly contrasting the ambition and confidence of the group’s Canadian leader with the small-town mentality of the three Welsh labourers. This is a really profound idea written with subtlety and I found myself wondering why there are not more playwrights with a genuine Welsh voice. Unfortunately, this theme was swamped in the end by a somewhat clumsy “coming-out” story that never really convinced and, while it might have been an issue 20 years ago, really no longer has much drama attached to it.
The clarity of the plot might have been helped with black-outs between each scene. Instead, I think it was asking a lot of the actors to change from one scene to the next while the lights were up. As a result, although the actors managed to keep impressively consistent throughout, no character really developed as the story unravelled. Having said that, Ollie Johnson and Robert Knibbs were convincingly simple, while Jack Blackburn gave the Canadian, Iver, an unsettling awkwardness that kept the audience on edge during moments of tension. The beauty of new writing is that one day you may be able to say “I went to Danino’s first play” and there is certainly evidence in Lying Doggo of better things to come.
Lying Doggo is playing at the Burton Taylor Studio until Saturday.
There are several themes running throughout the play several of which were interesting although they rather ended up getting in each others way. The strongest and most powerful theme concerns a perceived Welsh inferiority complex. This was best exemplified by cleverly contrasting the ambition and confidence of the group’s Canadian leader with the small-town mentality of the three Welsh labourers. This is a really profound idea written with subtlety and I found myself wondering why there are not more playwrights with a genuine Welsh voice. Unfortunately, this theme was swamped in the end by a somewhat clumsy “coming-out” story that never really convinced and, while it might have been an issue 20 years ago, really no longer has much drama attached to it.
The clarity of the plot might have been helped with black-outs between each scene. Instead, I think it was asking a lot of the actors to change from one scene to the next while the lights were up. As a result, although the actors managed to keep impressively consistent throughout, no character really developed as the story unravelled. Having said that, Ollie Johnson and Robert Knibbs were convincingly simple, while Jack Blackburn gave the Canadian, Iver, an unsettling awkwardness that kept the audience on edge during moments of tension. The beauty of new writing is that one day you may be able to say “I went to Danino’s first play” and there is certainly evidence in Lying Doggo of better things to come.
Lying Doggo is playing at the Burton Taylor Studio until Saturday.