The Experimental Theatre Club in Oxford is prone to choosing challenging plays, and their latest choice is no different. This week at the Michael Pilch Studio (my new favourite small theatre venue in central Oxford), they’re putting on a production of Dennis Kelly’s 2009 play, Orphans, which takes a thought-provoking and troubling look at urban violence and family ties.
Helen and Danny are a young couple, quietly celebrating the news that they’re expecting their second child, when Helen’s brother Liam arrives in their home covered in blood. He tells the story of how he discovered a lad injured in the street, and the couple offer to help him, but as the play unravels they begin to realise that Liam’s account of the evening might not be entirely accurate.
This is a compelling play because of its simplicity – a three-handed drama, it relies almost purely on dialogue, which, from Dennis Kelly’s pen, is superb. Kelly has an uncanny ear for natural conversation and argument – not a word or line is mis-chosen. Not every young theatre company could take on a play so nakedly reliant on words and very little action, but I suppose that’s why this group call themselves the Experimental Theatre Club, because Cassian Bilton as Danny, Mary Higgins as Helen, and Calam Lynch as Liam have the confidence of much more mature actors.
This production of Orphans embraces the simplicity of the source material – director Georgia Bruce and her team have stripped out any possible frills to create a tight, tense production with a minimal set and unobtrusive sound design. There’s almost a post-apocalyptic feel to the staging which lifts the drama out of time and place and shows that human nature is not always what it seems and that anyone can find themselves capable of anything when it comes to the ones they love. Chilling. ★★★★☆ @BookingAround 28th April 2016
