Hurts Given & Received

abuses and discards all those who
come into contact with him – his

mother, friends, servant, and most
shockingly, a child. Nothing

matters to Bach except ‘The
Poem’. The other characters
in his life

sacrifice themselves to his abuse
because they seem to accept that

‘The Poem’ is the be all and end
all and they, as individuals, might

be the poet’s catalyst to
greatness.

Brilliantly directed by Gerrard
McArthur for The Wrestling School,

the “Hurts Received” part
of the play sees Bach on the sharp end of

revenge for a terrible crime. Paralysed and mute, he

channels his poetry through a young
girl who pours out

page after page of “great
poetry” to provide the increasingly

dependent community with their
poetic drug of choice. Only
in his

stillness, when he no longer has
the ability to wound, does his

poetry flow.

Tom Riley‘s dynamic Bach in the
first part of the play is in

constant movement, whether it is
climbing to the hugely oversized

chair and desk where he writes,
pacing along the decking that defines

the acting area, or running his
hands frenetically through his

hair. This kinetic performance becomes even more startling
when in

the latter part of the play Bach is
paralysed, the stillness even

more effective than his earlier
frantic searching for words.

Such a bravura performance could
have overshadowed the rest of the

cast, but Issy Brazier-James
makes compelling characters of Sadovee

and her sister, with the ensemble
providing fine support.

At 110 minutes, the play is overly
long and the pace could be upped

in a couple of scenes. Some
judicious editing might also be useful in

reducing the feeling of being
bludgeoned repeatedly with the play’s

themes. That said however, this is
a significant and fascinating

exploration of the place of art in
society.

– Carole Gordon