Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s playwright in residence, Rachel De-lahay would reportedly travel up and down on the number 11 Birmingham bus just to kill time. The setting for her latest play is that very bus, drawing the inspiration from her own childhood.
We meet Malachi and Demi on a number 11 bus as they strike an unlikely friendship, meanwhile a mother watches as her daughter fights her inner demons to leave an abusive relationship. They play explores violence and its effect on the lives of young women and the circles they become stuck in.
Toyin Kinch plays the role of Malachi and gives an energetic and cheekily clumsy performance. However, his diction is far from perfect at times, not helped by the dialect used for his character, though his accent became clearer as times passes and it becomes more familiar.
Danusia Samal is good as Demi, a solid and flirtatious performance. She really comes into her own in the play’s final scenes where she reveals her character’s emotional turmoil – it is a shame we only see her character really open up in such a way in the dying moments of the play. Some of the best moments of the play come during the buzz scenes, the rapport Toyin and Danusia have is something to be complimented.
Sarah Manners does well to portray the conflict in her character, Angela, as she battles her inner demons and re-examines her thoughts. The way she brings out the rebellious teenage girl in her character is nicely handled.
The stand-out performance really comes from Janice McKenzie as Phyllis, who gives her character more depth than that of the others. There is a great deal of grit in her performance; the down to earth portrayal hits just the right spot.
The direction from Tessa Walker is good, although her handling of the bus scenes was far from convincing – the scene’s were played with too much width and freedom to suggest the characters were on a bus within the restricted space of the seats, and there was no noticeable signs of the bus being in motion at any point throughout the play.
The set design is simplistic yet clever, we see scratched vandalised bus shelters that instantly are recognisable as part of any urban scene. The lighting and sound are both neat, however I felt more could be made of these, again during the bus scenes to suggest that the bus was indeed in motion.
Circles nearly strikes the right notes, but I couldn’t help but feeling slightly underwhelmed upon leaving the auditorium. It fails to grab you as you would hope, the action seems a little pedestrian during the opening of the play. We, in the main, don’t really see the characters develop enough to invest in their cause and the climax of the play comes and goes too quickly for any great deal of cathartic satisfaction.
The play is expected to tour and although most themes in the play are universal the large amount of Birmingham specific references may prove to be somewhat of a hindrance. It will be interesting to see how well this is received in other regions.
The play tries to be thought-provoking, but it just doesn’t quite reach us; like a ball that just falls short so that we are unable to catch it. ★★★☆☆ Sam Chipman
