“You’re not prepared to live life without mystery”
This production of David Mamet’s
The Shawl is a little bit of a curiosity which
has popped up at the Young Vic’s Clare studio for a brief 10 day run. Directed
by the 2012 Genesis Future Director’s Award winner Ben Kidd, it is only a short
play - coming in at just under an hour - but one which is slinkily persuasive
in its portrayal of a conman who may or may not have psychic powers and it is given
a rather interesting production here, full of great ideas.
The first – which is sadly under-developed – is that the audience are all
spirits watching the events of the play. Small video screens are mounted on the
walls and occasionally show cctv footage of the characters outside but when
they move into the main room, they are alone – the chairs on which we sit are
all shown to be empty. It is a wonderfully striking image but one which passed
by very quickly and was never really touched on, indeed the screens were used
rather sparingly throughout which felt like an opportunity that could have been
somehow pushed further.
But having the seats spread out haphazardly around the room in Merle Hensel’s
design is a highly effective technique, allowing for Kidd to weave his actors
in and out of the audience, pulling us into the heart of the big con as rich,
bereaved Miss A comes to clairvoyant-on-the-make John to decide whether to
contest her mother’s will. Nick Fletcher’s John is most compelling as he
breezes through their initial meeting and utterly gaining her trust, something
which is then debunked by the following scene in which he reveals to his
younger lover and would-be collaborator Charles exactly how he suckered her.
But Mamet has more up his sleeve, as the séance that follows – Fletcher
terrifyingly convincing as being possessed – tips over from trickery into
something more genuine, but exactly at what point we are left guessing. Denise
Gough’s grief-stricken woman is superb as someone desperate for answers and
even as she remains sceptical, is evermore drawn to the possibility that
something real could be happening. Indeed the potential psychological relief
that comes from just believing – even if it is false – becomes powerfully real
in Gough’s hands.
Sam Crane – shorn of hair and looking all the better for it (shades of
Gyllenhaal definitely apparent) – is a rapacious presence as the one keen to
fleece Miss A for all she is worth but it is a shame that Mamet doesn’t devote
a little more time to the relationship between the two men as Crane and
Fletcher connect excellently here with the barest of material. Natasha Chivers’
amoebic mass of lightbulbs creates a sinuous flow of evocative lighting and the
whole production adds up into something hauntingly satisfying.
Running time: 55 minutes (without interval)
Free castsheet available
Booking until 15th December
Labels: David Mamet, Denise Gough, Nick Fletcher, Sam Crane, Young Vic