Reviews

Elastic Bridge

| Off-West End |

3 February 2012

One bridge, three strangers and a shed load of dark comedy is the recipe for this hard-hitting play by Strawberry Blond Curls. All three have come to the mysterious, unnamed bridge with the same goal in mind – to throw themselves off it. But why? This is the question that steers the story as we learn the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of each character; a story that teaches us that not everything taken at face value is as it seems.

Revisiting a production performed last year in various vicinities including Salford and Liverpool the trio of John James Tomlinson, Rosie MacPherson and Andrew Draper aim to deliver something of an emotional rollercoaster. The themes it touches on are often funny, often tragic, often uncomfortable and often all of these things at the same time. Yet its insightfulness towards the vulnerability of our emotions, which even the strongest of us can’t escape, shows a great maturity.

To pull off dark humour well in a subject as unfunny as suicide is no mean feat and requires much skill. Some might argue that it is the kind of juxtaposition best reserved for larger productions, and they’d be right to an extent. Within the realms of the intimate staging of Turnham Green’s Tabard Theatre the jokes occasionally fall flat and feel a little awkward.

Yet the personalities of Alexander, Sylvia and Kurt are so close to life that each is its own character study. Tomlinson’s portrayal of the brooding loner Kurt is particularly convincing and his punchy delivery deservedly wins most of the laughs. MacPherson turns the idea that beautiful women have a life of Riley well and truly on its head, while Draper’s Alexander shows that every event in life has its consequences, no matter how small they seem.

Elastic Bridge is an in your face production reminding us that we all have crosses to bear – only some of us have larger crosses than others.

– Will Stone