Ents: Arts

Review: Bed

By Cat Redfern
Published: 18/10/2009

The latest play from SuTCo is a strange and interesting choice. Bed by Jim Cartwright tells the somehwat surreal tale of seven people who are all asleep in one bed which has a head that watches over their slumber whilst envying their ability to sleep. The audience are taken on a bizarre journey through the dreams and memories of the characters, whilst each character is subtly manipulated by the god-like head.

One of the first noticeable features of the production was the clever use of space. Being performed at The Edge instead of the Drama Studio meant that the flat performing area must have created issues for the production team. Nevertheless, this was handled very well by turning the whole stage into one huge bed. There was no back stage and no stage curtain to fall resulting in there being no divide between actors and audience. The director compensated for this by having the actors already asleep in position when the audience entered and left so that the cast never had to break character, apart from when they accepted their applause at the end, before falling back to sleep until the room was cleared.

The disadvantage of having a smaller space to work in and no tiered seating was turned into an advantage as this created a greater intimacy. The closeness of the action to the audience along with the occasional interaction meant that the surreal element of the play came across strongly as dreams and reality really did mix and conflict as the divide between audience and actor blurred.

The cast were strong as this peculiar and odd mixture of people, acting convincingly and with sincerity when it came to their individual monologues. The language of the script was rather complicated and at times hard to follow but the emotional acting and clever stage directions made it easier to follow and understand.

The actors were used imaginatively to add a physical element to the play as they each became a part of the others enactments. The stories became visually enjoyable as the actors illustrated the memory or dream that was being related, whether they were part of a car or transformed into wind and waves.

Clare Colbourne as the Sermon Head was brilliant, strangely appearing in the background with crazy back-combed hair and paint splattered overalls. However, the Director’s Note in the program stated that she was meant to be a moving portrait which did not come across strongly. Nevertheless, the lingering presence of the Head and the way in which she manipulated the other characters was interesting. She was played well with a childish nature and a loneliness and desperation to sleep that made the character endearing and sympathetic.

This was a harrowing, peculiar and often confusing play that was given the right edge of humour and sweetness. The director Christian Latham handled the text with sophistication and imagination and turned it into a successful and completely bizarre piece of theatre.

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