REVIEWS REVIEWS
A woman enters the stage and it soon becomes apparent that she is a wordy woman whether applying them or putting them into her Apple laptop computer. She is surrounded by the over used design feature, seven doors, and sits at an elongated table that doubles as dining table — the design is by Neil Irish. Words connected to the plot are projected onto the back surround as the play proceeds. All this is the work of writers Carol Shields and Sara Cassidy and directed by Timothy Sheader.
“Unless” is at the McCarthy in Scarborough from the 7th April to the 7th of May, 2005. This is a No Smoking theatre.
So what is all this about?; this play set in Orange Town, Canada. Reta, played with a great deal of effort by Maggie Cronin, wants to write a novel, but she is greatly troubled by circumstances apparently beyond her control, that particularly concern her daughter, Norah played by Pip Ripley. You may ask, do words bring about the silence of the daughter? Characters in the novel come to life and intermingle with the flow of the play as Reta deals with her publisher Arthur Springer (Laurence Kennedy) and her husband Tom (Richard Derrington). We have the mother (Joanna Wake), Christine (Clare McCarron), Natalie (Sophie Duval) and Ben (Simon Bubb) contributing to the story line and other characters.
This is a woman's play that could only have been written by a woman. Men will reserve their judgement. The play will make you think, then you will discuss how it affected you. Then you will say, "The writer had something to say, but what was it?" or "Yes, that is how the world effects me". © BA
