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Hush by April de Angelis Jo drowned, possibly by suicide, and her sister Louise has come to her sea-side house to sort out Jo’s old possessions. Whilst Jo was a passionate left-wing activist, Louise is her antithesis and lives quietly and inoffensively whilst working at a magazine in London. With her is Rosa, Jo’s daughter, who has to cope with all the trials of being a teenager along with a deep resentment of her late mother. Louise's partner Tony, an author, spends his time agonising over the adequacy of his novel. Denise, their cleaner and pseudo-babysitter for Rosa, bumbles around searching for direction, for love and for suitable clothing for a night out. Local activist Colin and the tragic Dogboy, a deranged tramp who lives on the beach, complete the ensemble. Upon entering the theatre the viewer is immediately struck by the set. In a relatively small space, designer David Illari has worked miracles. Over a tonne of sand, stones, rubbish and broken mortar create a wonderful illusion of the filthy beach. This is juxtaposed against the ordered simplicity of the living room of the beach house which takes up the other half of the stage.
Lighting designer Paul Edwards makes the most of this arrangement and switches seamlessly between the scenes that alternate in the two locations. His use of different levels of lighting highlights the moods prevalent in each scene to great effect. Coupling this with the sound of crashing the waves, the theatre becomes atmospheric and amenable to the characters' actions. Hush is a long play. At 2 hours from start to finish with little change in locale, it is a credit to both the actors and to director Nadine Hoare that it is lively and pacey for the majority of the performance. The characters move between the two scenes with well-practised ease. The staging in a small theatre is very good and the only caveat is that action at the front of the stage is lost to those sitting further back in the audience. Alex Frances takes on the role of Louise, the sister struggling to deal with Jo's death and the difficulties of raising Rosa. At times this is an emotionally demanding part and Alex conjures up the feelings of loss that Louise is feeling, well. Unfortunately for Alex, the character is rather dull. She sits uneasily next to the scatty Denise, the brooding Rosa and the nervous energy of Dogboy. In order to create a foil to the radical Jo, writer April de Angelis has created a conservative monster. Alex has some powerful scenes, but the character is usually either on the edge of tears (never in tears) or expressing nigh-on nothing. Louise tells Tony to "stop sitting on the fence" when she never seems to choose a side herself. This is exemplified by the scene when the characters are sitting together in a forced attempt to stimulate a conversation. Each seems to have an agenda except Louise who sits vacuously reading a magazine. Louise says: "People need truth, otherwise they resent you." This is the truth: I had trouble empathising with a rather 2-dimensional and emotionally disconnected character. Alex animates the character very well in the circumstances and it is a tribute to Alex that her Louise keeps the play alive when she could drag the play under. Perhaps in keeping with her sister, de Angelis has in fact set such a challenge intentionally; or perhaps I'm grasping at straws. Marsha Rose accepts the challenge of the lovable yet simple Denise and acquits herself admirably. For the entire play she loses herself in a character that is a challenge in mannerism and accent. This is a real tribute because a lesser performance would create a Denise that would just become annoying over the course of a long play. Her initial fears about burying Rosa in the sand are palpable and her longing for someone to sweep her up and away from her mundane existence is touching. Saying much more is just overkill, so I will conclude in Denise's own words "Brilliant! Brilliant!" Tony, novelist and yes-man to Louise is played with vulnerability and an air of resignation by Richard Tunstall. It is a well-rounded performance of a character that seems to have been plucked by de Angelis from somewhere in the nether regions of Four Weddings and a Funeral. My only criticism is that Richard missed many opportunities for comedy in his delivery. I was never sure whether he was playing for laughs or not as some comedic moments were well observed and others of the same ilk were ignored. The danger of disregarding Tony's lighter instances is that the character risks becoming just mundane and hen-pecked. For most of the play however, Richard delivered an enthusiastic and endearing performance, from a character who deserves praise just for being the only one who really challenges Louise when shouting "I do not get a kick out of it!" That emotional outburst was one of the high points of the play. Konstantin Stanislavski, the famous Russian acting teacher said that acting emotions should be drawn from past experience. For this reason I really hope Nicole Blyth wasn’t using Stanislavski’s technique! Her performance of a angst-ridden 15-year-old was wonderful. She took a personality which could have been nauseatingly annoying in her refusal to accede to the other characters and created a lost and confused girl who demanded concern. Her portrayal is convincing enough to make the audience squirm when she talks about her illicit sexual encounters. The warmth of feeling from the spectators when she begins to copy Dogboy in his canine antics is unreserved. It is a heart-warming moment of childish innocence in Rosa’s otherwise tortured existence. In only one instance did she show chinks in her acting armour. Unfortunately this came in her final scene when she is confronted by Dogboy's death. She views the whole scene with a certain blankness that hints at a lack of attention rather than of a lost innocence. However, this does not overshadow a great performance. Rosa tells Denise: "You'll miss my little ways." Indeed.
Colin, the environmental campaigner and lover of Jo, is another victim of de Angelis’ characterisation. Colin is like 'Dave Angel: Eco Warrior' from the Fast Show. How often have we heard clichZ
Quite how then, Howard Chick pulls this off is almost beyond me. But he does. The oft quoted maxim is ิthere are no small parts, just small players. In this case there are no small parts, just ridiculous stereotypes. Howard overcomes these by stepping back from the character and refusing to get sucked into overblown rants. Rather it appears he is making a well-meaning and long (not 'well') thought out plea to the other characters. I'm glad costumes went no further than an army jumper to signify Colin's views because I don’t think even the most astute acting could have saved him.
Last of all is Marcus Mollan who played Dogboy. This performance was outstanding. I don’t say this lightly. Anyone who can be utterly convincing as a deranged tramp who begins to think he is a dog, has a real talent. He moved effortlessly between the sublime and the ridiculous. He burst with a dangerous energy that rightly set him up as a ticking time bomb.
His love for his sharpened stone was endearing and worrying. His constant movement demanded absolute attention. When he stopped to stare starry-eyed at Rosa to tell her that the people in the magazine he had scrounged "shine like saints", he shone himself. Even his canine mannerisms were spot on. I have only one comment, which might seem fastidious but needs saying; Marcus's illusion was almost broken by his exits when the lights went down and in full view of the audience, he stood up straight and marched off out of character. Fortunately, all has to be forgiven in light of, well, when he was lit!
In KDC's umpteenth year, there is still a mine of talent raring to entice and enthral us. These actors made a lot out a little and created a believable and encompassing world of loss and pain in a small space. There were no weak links here, just actors who fell victim to April de Angelis’ own inadequacies. It looks like KDC’s reputation as one of London's finest amateur group is safe for another season.
Michael Millar
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