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Review: A Conversation

November 20, 2007


Venue: The Royal Exchange
Date Reviewed: 20th November 2007

star

A Conversation was first performed in the Royal Exchange Studio, and like The Flags, it has since transferred to the Theatre. This worked wonders for that frenetically paced comedy, but here it merely hampers this play’s messages as the platform is too big for such a small play.

This is a shame, as it means that the narrative simply goes round in circles on this vast stage. A Conversation does benefit greatly from an interesting premise; bereaved parents of a murdered young girl meet with the murderer’s family. What would they say? More importantly, would it help them through the complexities of the grieving process, enabling them to move on? Community Conference or Transformative Justice allows families to do just that, have dialogue with each other face to face.

Most of the performances are very committed, inviting you to become so much more than a mere bystander. Margot Leicester and Jonathan Hackett do convey their characters’ sense of loss well, although Hackett is prone to overacting which becomes distracting.

Christine Stephen-Daly plays psychologist Loren with real authority, yet contrasts this with vulnerability and fear. The only problem is, just when you believe in her detached exterior, writer David Williamson gives her a cliched revelation which undermines her reality.

As the forgotten Williams family, Susan Twist, Paul Stocker and Kellie Bright are all excellent. They imbue their roles with so much sympathy, that you genuinely feel for them, as they are rendered helpless by this terrible crime. They have lost a son and a brother, and do not recognise the murderer within and you sense their grief and guilt.

Ultimately though, Williamson tries so hard not to offer pat conclusions that he ends up merely repeating points, rather than telling you something new. So much so, that in the last section, several characters’ corny confessions remind you more of a TV movie than the in-depth exploration of the nature vs. nurture debate, that you desperately long for.

-Glenn Meads

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