Theatreguide.London
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The Theatreguide.London Review
In March 2020 the covid-19 epidemic
forced the closure of all British theatres. Some companies adapted
by putting archive recordings of past productions online, others
by streaming new shows. And we take the opportunity to explore
other vintage productions preserved online. Until things return to
normal we review the experience of watching live theatre onscreen.
Into
The Night
Original
Theatre Online November 2022
The
very
inventive Original Theatre Company addresses a real-life story of
adventure and tragedy and, through clever and sensitive staging, finds
in it a quietly moving and inspiring demonstration of the greatness
lying within the most ordinary of humans.
In
December 1981 a cargo ship ran into trouble in a hurricane off the coast
of Cornwall, in the far south-western corner of Britain. A lifeboat was
sent out, manned – as was the norm – by experienced but unpaid
volunteers, to rescue the crew.
But
– no apology for the spoiler – the sea proved too strong an adversary,
and both vessels and crews were lost, the exact manner of their failure
unknown.
Playwright
Frazer
Flintham, working from a non-fiction book about the event by Michael
Sagar-Fenton, does not present this story as a mystery, or as a heroic
adventure, or even as a man-against-Nature morality tale. To him, and to
director Alastair Whatley and the Original Theatre actors, the essence
of the tale lies in the very ordinariness.
The
local
merchants and artisans and farmers who interrupted their Christmas
preparations when an alarm went off had done this before – it was just
what you did if you lived in a coastal village. All things considered,
they would rather not die in the attempt to save others, but the
possibility of that happening did not in any way inhibit them.
They
went out into the storm in their small boat for the same reason a
helicopter pilot risked his life trying to lift people off the
floundering ship and the Coast Guard radio operator unable to do
anything more tried to coordinate communications among all the others –
because it would not have occurred to them not to.
That
sense of an unconscious heroism inherent in the human makeup comes
through powerfully in this Original Theatre staging and in the video
recording now available online.
Playwright
and director employ a Story Theatre approach, with cast members speaking
quietly to the camera as they share the narration, often just adding one
sentence to what was said before and then passing the telling on to
another.
This
gives the story a matter-of-fact quality – we are not presented with an
excited narrator or a tall tale, but just filled in with what happened.
The heroism of everyone involved is never even mentioned, but left there
for us to realise for ourselves.
At
the same time, the cast members gradually take on roles in the
re-enactment of events – the two captains, the pilot and others – again
with the emphasis on the calm and professionalism they all showed in
just doing what needed to be done.
(Actual
recordings of some of the radio contacts among them add to the sense of
experienced pros relying on their expertise and calm to get them
through.)
So
strong
is the production's sense of people who know what they're doing just
getting on with doing it that you will find yourself hoping and
half-believing that what you were told at the start was going to happen
won't happen.
This
video version was shot in an empty space, inventively using light and
shadow to create the sense of different locations – the village hall,
each vessel, the Coast Guard station, and so on – as the action moves
among them.
One
sequence
set against back-projections of high waves and employing a swaying
camera may risk a touch of seasickness in the viewer.
At just 80 minutes, the piece is able to create and sustain an immediacy and intensity that contribute to its message – that despite how much we are shown ordinary people being ordinary, something extraordinary happened here.
Gerald Berkowitz
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