Play: Hang

Yes, back again to London - with one difference: the Tubes are running! Oh joyous day. Ironically, of course, I would have to wait until they were, to book something quite close to home. When I checked Meetup and saw that the London Dramatic Arts group were headed to Hang in the Royal Court Theatre, I was interested. RSVPs were closed - but when I found I couldn't get tickets anywhere else, I contacted the organiser, who kindly re-opened RSVPs so I could get a (discounted) ticket. Lovely!

I hadn't been to the Royal Court in a long time, but it's one of those really easy journeys. Tube to Sloane Square, turn to your right exiting the station, and there it is. Takes under 15 minutes from my house - even if the District Line is playing up, as it was yesterday evening: five minutes relaxing at the platform in Earl's Court, then two unscheduled stops before the next station.. Still, I got there eventually, the luxury of the exit escalator taking me to street level.

We were supposed to meet in the downstairs bar - I knew how to get there, but hadn't been in the bar before, as it happens. Well, it's impressively large - which posed its own problems, as I didn't know where to look. Fortunately, the organiser had an eye out for members, and grabbed me just as I was getting confused. So I sat and joined her and the others - there were only four of us in total - while she had a bite to eat, and we had drinks, before the show started.

We were in Row B of the stalls, and with several people having taken their seats by the time we went in, I was a bit concerned about having to push past people (I believe the show was sold out). I needn't have worried; Row B turned out to be the front row, with plenty of space in front - next to a worryingly high stage! Anyway, we had a bit of a search for our seats - the seats in the Royal Court are leather, and as comfortable as I remember, but the numbers are very hard to see. When I sat down, I wondered whether I'd have trouble seeing the action - but it turned out fairly ok, although I did have to crane my neck.

The show is only 70 minutes long - no interval, of course - and we agreed afterwards that this was quite long enough. This isn't in any way a comment on the acting, which is superb, or the quality of the production - it's quite simply such an intense piece, and says everything it needs to in the time available to it. Simply put, we have three characters - two social workers of some kind, and a woman who's come to speak to them about her case. We never do find out exactly what happened to her, but it seems to have been some kind of home invasion, and as the play progresses we become more and more aware of the dreadful impact it's had on her and her children and husband.

This play progresses interestingly - from the start, where the social workers come across as officious: caring enough, but careful always to follow the rules: and the victim is hesitant and shaking in the corner - to a point where she takes control, becomes more vocal, and we suddenly find the bureaucrats are the ones literally hiding behind chairs. Finally, at the end - without wanting to give too much away - she is robbed of her surety again. A concise rollercoaster of emotion, indeed..

This is as good as time as any to mention set design - sparse would be a good word. The only props are a water cooler - which provides an unobtrusive means of giving the characters something to do (get water for themselves and each other) - and a whole heap of office chairs. These are quite disorganised, as per a disorderly office - but they also prove very handy, as characters can decide whether to sit or stand, and where. The position of power seems to be to the left of the stage, and as power shifts from the officials to the victim, they swap sides. All these chairs are even handy to hide behind, as aforementioned!

Some minor quibbles: the walls (black, shiny, but not solid) wobbled whenever the aircon came on, and indeed whenever someone passed close to them. I found that distracting. There were also a couple of things about the writing style: most of the play is full of unfinished sentences. Fine, they indicate uncertainty perhaps - but it happened so often that I found that distracting, too. And when the victim does finally find her voice - my gosh, but she does! and I found the transition a little too extreme to be realistic.

BUT. Minor quibbles, these are. Really, it's been a while since I found so much to say about a production. Runs until Saturday, and I really recommend it if you get a chance - it's remarkable.

We stayed for a drink afterwards, and lively banter kept us there until closing. This is an interesting group of people, and I look forward to joining them again for something in the future. And so home, with some kind of delay on Wimbledon trains, so that I just took the next one to Earl's Court and walked from there, which was as quick. Too late to blog, in the end. Tonight, I'm joining the London For Less! people again, at the Southwark Playhouse again - this time for the intriguingly named Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs.  For which, again, they had discounted tickets (happy days!). Well, I'm imagining - with the Tubes running - it's not going to take 2.5 hours to get there, as it did last week..!