Nightfall

by Barney Norris

seen at the Bridge Theatre on 10th May 2018

Laurie Sansom directs Ophelia Lovibond a Lou, Sion Daniel Young as Ryan, Ukweli Roach as Pete and Claire Skinner as Jenny in this new play about a Hampshire farming family (Jenny and her children Lou and Ryan) still numbed by the loss of the husband and father; Pete is a friend of Ryan's from their early schooldays, subsequently romantically involved with Lou.

The scene (designed by Rae Smith) is the yard space outside the farmhouse - neither the ground nor the house is particularly attractive, subverting the cosy urban view of idyllic pastoral life. In fact, a gigantic oil pipe snakes across the stage, providing both an image of rural despoliation and the trigger for the expression of dangerous tensions between all he characters - the play opens with Pete and Ryan installing a hosepipe to divert some of the oil into the farm's fuel tank without Jenny's approval.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

by Manuel Puig in a version by José Rivera and Allan Baker

seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory on 24 April 2018

Laurie Sansom directs Samuel Barnett as Molina and Declan Bennett as Valentin, with Grace Cooke-Gam as the warder and nurse, in this, a second dramatic adaptation of Manuel Puig's celebrated novel of 1976 set in an Argentinian prison (also the subject of a film in 1985). An earlier version of the play was staged in London in 1985 and revived at the Donmar Warehouse in 2007.

This new version is more streamlined, lasting a hundred minutes without a break. It thus increases the claustrophobic nature of the setting, enhanced by the configuration of the Menier stage and auditorium, with designer Jon Bausor making full use of its concrete walls and pillars, and surrounding the acting space with earth.