These two short plays, both three-handers, are being staged in a room above Brick Lane’s notorious Vibe Bar. The pairing of two dark comedies set in America’s Deep South with themes of poverty and violence running throughout both may seem incongruous placed amongst the curry houses and Shoreditch hipsters, but this is an inspired pairing of texts with surprising local relevance.
The double bill opens with The Interview by Octave Mirbeau, translated from the French and transposed to a New Orleans bar. After a brief interlude between Italian bartender Chapuzot and a neglectful mother bemoaning the death of her two children, to be closely followed – we are given to suspect – by the imminent decline of a third, the dialogue is given over to Chapuzot and The Interviewer. A journalist for a local paper, The Interviewer has come to investigate the allegation that Chapuzot assaulted his wife by hitting her over the head with a bottle of gin. Yet Chapuzot insists he is not the man in question – leading the audience on a merry dance.
The play draws on Mirbeau’s own experience as a journalist and art critic, and when The Interviewer delivers his summation of the press, proclaiming that it ‘rewards, punishes and forgives – depending on the price that one pays’ it becomes clear why this play has been staged here and now. The Interviewer goes on to call the bar ‘a haven for communists, anarchists and bankers’ and although squarely rooted in America’s Deep South, there is nonetheless a strange resonance, with London still reeling from the events of last summer – the triple whammy of riots, phone hacking and the economic crash. The Interview is a funny, sweet little conceit, and Max Obertelli gives a charming performance as the befuddled bartender.
Things take a darker turn in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton – another short one-acter brimming with racial tension, grinding poverty and revenge played out one stifling hot summer in the Mississippi Delta. Tennessee Williams’s short play formed the basis for the controversial 1956 Elia Kazan film Baby Doll – banned on release in many countries for its sexual content. In 27 Wagons, Jake Meighan is the threatening, aggressive owner of a cotton gin. When he burns down the mill of a rival business-man, Silva Vicarro, the aggrieved man takes revenge by cornering, threatening and raping Jake’s innocent, oppressed wife.
The play is a clear precursor to WIlliams’s later great works – the caged, troubled Flora has all the qualities of Blanche DuBois as she is brutalised by the violent Jake and Silva, who are both early prototypes for the violent seducer Stanley Kowalski. Josie Brightwell shines as Flora – conveying a deep, churning well of fear and naivety in her expressive eyes and face.
Overall it’s an interesting evening, but one that feels under-rehearsed and lacking in care. Ross Ericson who plays The Interviewer and Jake – and who also directs – lacks presence on stage. He rattles through his lines at an alarming and at times incoherent speed. There is some sparkling dialogue here, from two of the greatest playwrights in history, but while the air of threatening malevolence is conveyed well, this production does neither play justice. The pairing of these plays is an excellent proposition with the gift of some strong raw material, but there’s a hurried, thrown together feel to the production as a whole. It provides a showcase for the considerable talents of Obertelli and Brightwell, but transcend little beyond this.
