Arches, Glasgow
The Arches' Platform 18 award is a barometer of what the next generation of theatre-makers is thinking. Where last year's recipients reflected on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, the latest double bill brings together two writer-directors with an urgent interest in gender. In Poke, Amanda Monfrooe borrows from Greek myth to consider female oppression, while in an all-male Wuthering Heights that owes as much to Kate Bush as it does to Emily Brontë, Peter McMaster considers masculine role models.
The eccentric Poke is set at the time of the "great madness", when rape has become so ubiquitous that women are grateful if it happens to them only once. In a mythological rocky landscape, the gods choose two women to mother a girl-child, then send her back into the world of men. In an effort to protect the girl, the women take on the role of goddesses, one representing air and water, the other flora and fauna, but become locked in a destructive environmental battle. It ends badly.
Monfrooe bills the story as an allegory, but without knowing who the women are meant to represent, it's hard to tell what it's an allegory of. In between the clunky scene changes and odd pauses, however, there are two parallel speeches, poetic and emotionally raw, that are shocking in their contrast. One is about consensual sex, the other about a rape. Their power puts everything else in the shade.
Far more assured is Wuthering Heights, a thrilling series of sketches about fathers, sons, machismo, tenderness and identity. It bounces in and out of Brontë's book, preferring to describe the male lineage of Heathcliff's horse than offer a coherent narrative, and draws equally from the life experiences of the five actors. It's honest, inventive, beautifully choreographed and, even if unresolved, evidence of a bold and distinctive talent.
• What have you been to see lately? Tell us about it on Twitter using #GdnReview
Rating: 3/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 14 hours ago.
The Arches' Platform 18 award is a barometer of what the next generation of theatre-makers is thinking. Where last year's recipients reflected on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, the latest double bill brings together two writer-directors with an urgent interest in gender. In Poke, Amanda Monfrooe borrows from Greek myth to consider female oppression, while in an all-male Wuthering Heights that owes as much to Kate Bush as it does to Emily Brontë, Peter McMaster considers masculine role models.
The eccentric Poke is set at the time of the "great madness", when rape has become so ubiquitous that women are grateful if it happens to them only once. In a mythological rocky landscape, the gods choose two women to mother a girl-child, then send her back into the world of men. In an effort to protect the girl, the women take on the role of goddesses, one representing air and water, the other flora and fauna, but become locked in a destructive environmental battle. It ends badly.
Monfrooe bills the story as an allegory, but without knowing who the women are meant to represent, it's hard to tell what it's an allegory of. In between the clunky scene changes and odd pauses, however, there are two parallel speeches, poetic and emotionally raw, that are shocking in their contrast. One is about consensual sex, the other about a rape. Their power puts everything else in the shade.
Far more assured is Wuthering Heights, a thrilling series of sketches about fathers, sons, machismo, tenderness and identity. It bounces in and out of Brontë's book, preferring to describe the male lineage of Heathcliff's horse than offer a coherent narrative, and draws equally from the life experiences of the five actors. It's honest, inventive, beautifully choreographed and, even if unresolved, evidence of a bold and distinctive talent.
• What have you been to see lately? Tell us about it on Twitter using #GdnReview
Rating: 3/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 14 hours ago.