Wild East

Synopsis

Frank's got the interview; it's his big break. He just has to convince two formidable women from the corporation and he'll have his chance to get back to Russia. But somehow, history is working against them all.

Our Review:

2 February 2005

Recent films like The Corporation and Super Size Me have addressed the pervasive and often malign influence huge multinational corporations have over the individual. April De Angelis’ new play takes a similar tack, but in such a woolly and obtuse fashion it's hard to fathom her true intentions.

Its nominal hero is Frank (Tom Brooke), a bumbling anthropology graduate from the University of Lampeter eager to secure a position that will take him back to his beloved Russia. First, however, he must face a tough grilling from Dr Gray (Helen Schlesinger) and Dr Pitt (Sylvestra Le Touzel), two formidable women with their own, often contradictory agendas.

With its three-hander format and single, claustrophobic setting – a sleek, modernist office designed by Mark Thompson in glinting glass and chrome – comparisons to Huis Clos are unavoidable. And as the interview unfolds, it becomes clear these three people are very much trapped in a Sartre-esque hell ...

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Latest User Review

217.44.167.77) - 1 February 2005:

The nerdy and nervous candidate for employment by a business which sells in Russia is faced at interview by two women PhDs, one trying unsuccessfully to recover from physical and emotional damage, the other a power freak. The applicant Frank (Tom Brooke) has at least two other agenda items; so have the women (Sylvestra Le Touzel and Helen Schlesinger), and all three are in competition for jobs in a downsizing outfit. A mix of salesmanship, archeology and shamanism, spiced up with the usual (these days) unnecessary bad language and with some furious action, benefits from Phyllida Lloyd's tight direction and Mark Thompson's spare striped stage, and three entirely believable performances by the actors. ...

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