Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
War wounds that don't heal
SIMON PARSONS recommends a powerful drama on the traumatic consequences of combat past, present and future
PIC CAP Outstanding: The cast of The Unreturning
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
The Unreturning
Theatre Royal, Stratford East
THIS intricately designed poetic drama, weaving together the narratives of three war victims, has all the hallmarks of director Neil Bettles’s work with Frantic Assembly.
Staged around a revolving, shape-shifting shipping container, skilful choreography and synchronised movement blend the tortured experiences of a first world war shell-shocked soldier, a contemporary disgraced Camp Bastion squaddie and a refugee from a martially governed futuristic dystopia who are all attempting to return to their northern British homes and regain something of the past.
Along with former trainees of Frantic Assembly’s training programme Ignition, Bettles has transformed Anna Jordan’s play into a beautifully crafted indictment of the often-forgotten victims of war who are unable to come to terms with their traumatic experiences and the transformation of the emotional and physical landscape that awaits and belies their homecoming expectations.
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