Cross Purpose

Synopsis

A man returns home to bring good fortune to his Mother and Sister, deciding to remain anonymous, a decision that ultimately proves fatal. He finds them running a guesthouse, murdering their wealthy guests and dumping them in a nearby river.

Our Review:

14 January 2013

Set in the bleakest valley in central Europe, Cross Purpose follows the murderous schemes carried out in a dingy hotel by a mother and daughter. Not so much despairing as absurdist, this Albert Camus play explores what it would be like to live without hope, and the results are darkly comic.

The play begins with the sparring mother and daughter, quarrelling about the arrival of their next guest. For the daughter, Martha, she is certain that this lone, rich man will provide her with the means to escape from the desolate valley and live a life in sun on the coast. Her mother, wearied by the monotonous years of her existence, seems quite happy to retire and embrace ‘the eternal rest’. Macabre as this sounds, Martha Jamie Birkett and the mother Paddy Navin inject such wry humour into their delivery that the latent absurdity of their lines is revealed; instead of quarrelling about whether or not to kill a man, it seems as if they might be bickering about whether o...

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Latest User Review

DCH - 2 February 2013:

First time to this theatre and very impressed with staging and acting. Did Camus at A Level-brought back memories....

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