I saw the matinee performance of All New
People at London's Duke of York’s Theatre on Saturday, April 7. It struck me how
thoroughly in the “modernist” movement this play is. As is so often the case,
there is no resolution; more like a “slice of life” of 4 people who happen to
meet at a location (in this case a beach house on Long Beach Island in the
middle of winter) and things unfold from there. The four characters are
strangers virtually – only 2 of them had ever met previously (Emma and Myron),
but each had never met Charlie or Kim. Emma, as played by Eve Myles, is a bit
of a basket case. She is in the US from Britain without a green card and is
desperate to stay, but not desperate enough to marry Myron, played by Paul
Hilton. Myron is in love with Emma, is the island’s fire chief and drug dealer,
but he looks as though he might be one of his own best customers.
Where the play begins is with Charlie,
played by Zach Braff, trying to hang himself on what turns out to be his 35th
birthday. How serious he is about the attempted suicide is debatable as he
doesn’t slip kick the chair out from under him until he hears Emma’s approach.
Either hearing her voice makes him think "do it now" and maybe he’ll be gone by
the time she walks in, or hearing her voice means he’ll likely be rescued. The
latter is obviously what happens and this starts the play off. Myron is called
to the scene to assist Emma with Charlie and before too much time has passed,
high-priced escort Kim (played by Susannah Fielding) arrives because
Charlie’s friend Kevin hired her to keep Charlie company during his stay at
Kevin’s beach house, not aware of Charlie’s ulterior motive in asking to use the house.
How the four got to where they were: Emma
in New Jersey, Myron a fire chief on Long Beach Island, Kim hired to go to New
Jersey, and Charlie at the point of suicide is told in filmed flashbacks, ably assisted by David Bradley, Amanda Redman, and Joseph Millson – they do not appear on stage, they only serve to provide a back story
with the actors freezing as a screen is quickly and quietly lowered to play the
relevant character’s defining moment and then being raised again, and then the story
continues. Four characters, four defining moments - only Charlie’s moment is
narrated by him in front of the screen in contrast to the other three which
were more like a freeze-frame insertion. This ‘getting to know the characters’
is juxtaposed against the absurd idea that in order to keep Charlie from going
through with his suicide, they cannot leave and so they decide to throw him an
impromptu birthday party. Charlie, Emma, and Myron are all very tightly wound
characters; it is Kim, who as the stereotypical dumb blonde provides a lot of
the comedy relief, while the vast majority of the humour is a release from the
tension of dramatic moments.
I don’t understand why this play is billed
as a comedy. Yes, Zach Braff wrote/co-wrote it and he is most well known for
playing comedic parts, but it is as much a comedy as Garden State was; most
certainly a drama with funny parts, just like a comedy isn’t just one laugh
after another for 2 hours and then you go home. The play ends with Kim singing
a song she wrote while Myron is smoking on the balcony, and Charlie and Emma
are holding each other in what I can only interpret as desperation. By that
time Emma has kind of-sort of asked Charlie out but he doesn’t react to Emma’s
proposition, so while Charlie’s motivation to sit by a crying Emma to comfort
her is credible in its awkwardness, his guiding her head towards the front of his
shoulder for what ends up being a long, caressing embrace as Kim sings her sad
song, the lyrics of which sum up the play fairly well, is not. I do wonder where
that came from because this is a character who two short hours ago was slipping
a noose around his neck and ends up with a very emotional new (maybe)
girlfriend? He had shown her no interest up to that point. Even when he was
shouting at her to get her to leave, it was because he wanted to be left alone.
The tightly wound characters had each revealed themselves to be deeply unhappy
people, and Kim is the eternal optimist who keeps on making lemonade, sharing
with the others the wisdom that if you don’t like the world as it is, be
consoled in the fact that in a hundred years’ time, there’ll be all new people.
Simple as her logic is, she doesn’t see that in order for there to be “All New
People”, all of the people currently living can be no more. Ah, there’s the
rub...or is that the irony?
Closing Night on April 28, 2012. Tickets (if available) via Ambassador Ticket Group http://www.atgtickets.com/
Poster Image from hamlife.blogspot.com
As a side note: it was less than 10 degrees
Celsius outside at the time. Just because the play’s action took place in the
middle of winter didn’t mean the air-conditioning needed to be on. The audience
only needs to suspend their disbelief, they do not need to bodily commiserate.
The actors (with the exception of Kim) were wearing sufficient amounts of
clothing with bright lights shining on them – we members of the audience were
not as lucky. I never took my coat or gloves off.
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