Beast

Synopsis

Combining terse dialogue with lilting verse and live performance with flickering film footage, this evocative, lyrical play tells the lustful love story of an aging artist and a young prostitute. Egon and Valie find themselves unexpectedly drawn to each other after a chance drunken exchange and a night of paid-for fantasy turns into a passionate relationship fuelled by whiskey and art. Against the backdrop of clanking docks, swarming fish and a swirling sea, their affair intensifies before reaching its heartbreaking conclusion.

Our Review:

Dave Jordan - 31 May 2012

Elena Bolster’s two-hander is a unique piece that is elegiac and erotic, sensual and sensitive. Love and passions ebb and flow in this tale of two tortured souls who, in finding each other, find moments of happiness only to have them disappear and disintegrate. It is based on the relationship between the artist Egon Schiele and his most famous model Valerie.

Alistair Turner’s simple but clever set uses decking as a platform. Raised planks that rise up the rear walls not only provide us with the backdrop for the studio but act as breakwaters when the grainy black and white projections of gulls, waves and fish evoke the sea and the shore nearby.

The two characters introduce themselves, each in their own space on a ship where they first meet. We are witness to their thoughts: Valerie is on the lookout for a pick-up or a vulnerable person to pickpocket, whilst Egon sees her as a possible muse and model. But this is no sordid down-to-earth...

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