Ruth Steiner, writer and college tutor, is expecting a serious student, based solely on the serious nature of the student's story she has read. Lisa is not what she expected. "So I am not a serious looking person?" Lisa asks. "No, you're not," Ruth tells her. And she isn't to begin with, more starstruck than anything else, but in this exchange lies a theme of the work: stories and people. It could be argued that there are two relationships in Donald Margulies's play: the one between Ruth and Lisa, the other between stories and people, how they sit with us, where they come from and what, or who, inspires them and how they are rummaged for. It is through the conversations between Ruth and Lisa, charted over a period of time, that these ideas are not just talked about, but acted upon, as one star rises and the other descends in this witty, intriguing and solidly acted play.
With a dryness, and a feeling of having seen it all, 'been there, done that', Noreen Fynes gives a tempered, world weariness, but still in control, attitude to Ruth, who back in the day found favour with poet Delmore Schwartz in New York city, where she has lived ever since; a part of her life that she recounts later on to Lisa with a tinge of regret at times past, never to be seen again, but not let go of either. There is a sharpness in the way the lines are delivered, but it is mixed with a wryness, the older head shedding light about the ways of the world to the protege, but in the final scenes, the sense of foreboding that bubbles underneath throughout, showing its face from time to time along the way, comes to the fore and is handled coolly by Fynes, the hardness coming through in a performance that feels easy and knowing.
Niamh Kavanagh gives an uneasy, spritness and spirit to Lisa as the student who jumps at the chance to work for Steiner, her literary hero, a reason they get to know each other over time, their attitudes both different and similar, with Ruth warming to her young protege, giving her pearls of wisdom about writing and finding stories, when one emerges that you simply have to write, you write it come what may, lessons Lisa soaks up. These two diverse characters share a type of warmth, but what this warmth is based on is less sure. Both actors play well against each other, Ruth more forward, Lisa more reserved, but the nature changing as the character of Lisa grows.
In reality, the main theme of this discursive play, that doesn't rush, nor does it get lagged down in its own ideas, containing some witty lines and comebacks, is the moral aspects of writing, something brought up in the first act that will ring louder before the end. In a time when fact sometimes reads like fiction, and fiction like fact, there are elements we can all readily relate to. The idea of what is the inspiration behind the words permeates discussions and events in the play; is it in fact an exaggeration of reality, or as Hollywood likes to say, 'based on a true story'. In the play itself, the poet Schwartz is part of Ruth's back story, while Woody Allen informs another scene, real characters in a fictionalised world. But don't think that it is all intellectual debate. The skill of Margulies is to place this in the confines of the relationship between writers Ruth and Lisa. It is an intriguing work, that Margulies doesn't necessarily resolve, but leaves it hanging there, letting us digest the ideas and actions.
It is acted wonderfully, with solid, controlled, thoughtful and believable characterisations, the lyrical lines delivered well that lets the quality of the writing shine through. David Scott directs with care, and never forcing issues, or letting the debate take over from character. The low ceiling stage of the theatre gives a sense of confinement that works well, on a set that tells at one glance where we are, as does the exchange between the characters at the very beginning, most of which is offstage, before coming into the main room and study of a writer who spends their time teaching. The one gripe would have been to let the wit breathe more than it does.The lighting by Patrick R. Burke gives a good sense of place.
It is intriguing but doesn't fail to entertain either, as the positions of the character changes, their ideas, emerge, or fold in on each other, in this engaging, subtle production, where less is more and characters take centre stage alongside the ideas contained in this thought provoking play.
Runs until 6th September
Photo courtesy of Company D
Runs until 6th September
Photo courtesy of Company D