Cyprus

Synopsis

"Colonel" Brian Traquair is a man with a secretive past and an ambiguous present. The Queen once gave him a medal in the kitchen at Buckingham Palace. He's supposed to be retired. But he still gets summoned to Whitehall every so often to share his hard won expertise. His troubled daughter Alison waits for him in his remote, Island home. But Traquair comes back with company, a figure from both their pasts. A ghost from those sunny days on Cyprus. Michael Griffen, now a Security Consultant, Traquair's old protégé, perhaps no longer in the service of the Crown, brings back the darkness of the outside world, and secrets from their own tangled lives. Foreign and domestic wars, old and new, walk through the door with him. Terrorism and intrigue, corruption and covert action, have come home. A new play, specially commissioned by acclaimed playwright Peter Arnott (The Breathing House, Losing Alec), which bristles with wit, satire and contemporary political relevance.

Our Review:

22 November 2005

A double debut has taken place with the opening of Cyprus. First, it marks the opening of the new West End studio venue that was originally promised a year ago when the Whitehall Theatre was converted into the Trafalgar Studios, but only the larger space opened then. Now, carved out beneath it in what used to be the rear stalls, is a second cosy, flexible space seating 98, much like the National’s temporary Loft theatre that was created four years ago in the Lyttelton Circle foyer, and is currently arranged in a three-sided configuration that is a bit like a miniature version of the Donmar.

Of course, it’s not quite the West End’s first such studio space – that honour has long belonged to Jermyn Street Theatre, founded over ten years ago, and it was recently joined by the Sound Theatre in Wardour Street – but as handsomely appointed and with Ambassador Theatre Group’s marketing and box office might behind it, this theatre comes with a ready-made management i...

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Latest User Review

195.166.50.50) - 2 December 2005:

The fact that you could have heard a pin drop during 'Cyprus' is testimony not only to the wonderful design of Studio 2, cancelling out the rapturous applause that 'Shoot the Crow' was no doubt recieving upstairs, but also to the skill three actors employed to maintain a level of tension and interest despite a sadly weak script. This play of plot and counter plot gives the audience a behind the scenes view on the darker side of political life. Super lines such as catching a would be computer hacker, looking for top-secret government inteligence, and advising her that 'you can't just ask jeeves' were cynically and dryly delivered by a splendid Sandy Neilson. However one would doubt that Alisdair McCrones character had ever been in the Boy Scouts, let alone the SAS. The latter end of the play undid much of the good work done in the first half, as the plot rather fizzled out, and I never believed a gun would be fired for a second, despite all the characters having a chance to hold it! That said, the disturbing political story, merging alarmingly from satire into truth is more than enough to hold the interest of anyone up to date with current affairs. A play for the Newsnight viewer rather than those of I'm A Celebrity, maybe, but why shouldn't the thinking person have their own 'study' in Studio 2, whilst the masses are entertained upstairs....

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