Solstice

Synopsis

A family is riven by intergenerational conflict when forced to resettle in an oppressive state. Solstice examines themes of faith and terror in a world slipping out of control.

Our Review:

11 April 2005

"Ring out solstice bells", sang 70s prog-rockers Jethro Tull. Not on this showing they won't. Whereas Midwinter, the 'prequel' in a mooted trilogy met with a warm critical reception, Solstice has found a much chillier front.

"How many steps would it take to turn an ordinary man into a terrorist?" asks the programme. But it's not a question that's really explored, let alone answered. In a "world blown apart by war" - a non-specific dystopia - two communities separated by a bridge, commit mutual and random atrocities.

Religious differences, centring on the issue of transubstantiation, fuel the division, suggesting perhaps sectarian-riven Northern Ireland. And, it transpires, the richer, urban community has other more material motivations.

It covets the land occupied by its neighbour; bulldozers are poised to move in as the play opens - echoes of Jewish settlers and the West Bank. All that's needed is a pretext for invasio...

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Latest User Review

212.139.250.183) - 8 June 2005:

It seems to me that this play epitomises that which puts the great majority of people off the theatre. It wears its obscurity with pride and appears to disdain the tradition of story-telling through drama. I couldnt help but think that Harris had sat spent a lot of time sat in the space - thinking how it could best be used - and came up with ropes, trap doors, things to climb out of, things to jump down from and objects to provide agreeably moody lighting, but forgot about a story. Dramatic action would have filled the space more rewardingly than anything else. In fairness the play could does hint that it something half-decent is hidden deep within its world and cast of characters, but - by directing her own work - Harris was never pushed into searching this out....

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