Ditch

Synopsis

Ditch , Beth Steel’s debut play, is set in Britain in the near future when much of the country is underwater and the government has been reduced to a group of fascist strongmen, the men patrol the moors for illegals in a rural outpost of the state. As their numbers dwindle, they struggle to retain a semblance of civilisation in the face of the inevitable onset of global war.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 19 May 2010

You have to get down, damp and daring to see Beth Steel’s promising debut play Ditch in the Old Vic Tunnels, a new venue under Waterloo Station that has been acquired by Kevin Spacey and his team as a home for “innovative and surprising arts events” throughout this year.

This subterranean warren of brick walls, arches and thunderous sound effects from the trains above is ideal for Steel’s post-apocalyptic, brutally raw dystopia on a remote Peak District farm, occupied by a few security officers, while the rest of the country is under water and the allied forces are going to war with China.

On the way to the performance area, we pass installations of dead and stuffed animals, survival provisions, a dismembered tree, bloody skins and bits of protruding metal and steel that might have been there already, you can’t be sure. A semblance of domestic security is maintained in the play by Dearbhla Molloy’s Mrs Pee...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 28 May 2010:

This is the third production in these tunnels under Waterloo Station, but the first under the auspices of the Old Vic. It explores similar territory as the second – a dystopian future world – but not as a promenade performance this time; there’s new (old) raked cinema seating in one of the arches. Beth Steel’s play takes us to the north of England in a future world where man-made catastrophes have led to the decline of society. An encampment of ‘security’ is hunting ‘illegals’. They receive regular but limited supplies and news of civil unrest which unnerves them, thinking they might too be attacked. Much more is revealed in the second act, which is the play’s downfall as it provides an imbalance and an irritating obtuseness to the first act which prevents you from fully engaging with the story and the characters. However, the staging by Richard Twyman and design by takis are stunning, and there are six fine performances from Gethin Anthony, Sam Hazeldine, Matti Houghton, Dearbhla Molloy, Paul Rattray and Danny Webb. The relentless rumble of trains overhead and the dark dampness of the venue seem part of the experience. It confirms this an exciting new venue (though I suspect better for promenade performances than a more conventional seating as here) . On this occasion, installations around the performance space create an appropriate atmosphere and there’s now a cool and quirky bar (though we still have the portaloos!). It’s much better than the reviews would have you believe and well worth checking out....

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