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Scales balances out performance
GERTRUDE'S SECRET
New End Theatre
PEOPLE are never quite as they first appear, and Benedick West illuminates this truth through a series of rotating bite-size dramas, which leave you feeling somewhat cynical.
With 80 minutes and eight stories to digest, the varying tone from one monologue to the next renders it tough to absorb each twisted encounter and fully identify with the broad spectrum of characters we’d never wish to meet.
On the surface, the individuals provide a comic interlude.
There’s the well-to-do Candida, a genteel gardener who falls for her Lithuanian au pair.
There’s Vicky Pollard-alike Tina, who tells of her experiences working in a tampon factory and losing her virginity in the station toilets.
And there’s eccentric Desmond, who reveals his grand idea to own the best sex shop this side of Birmingham.
This humour, however, is underpinned by a morbid reality.
The most disturbing story features actress Jerusha West, daughter of the playwright, and portrays a young girl waiting alone in an Amsterdam hotel for her business man father to return.
Her childish innocence in a world beyond her years is depressingly dark.
As the stories progress, however, the shock factor begins to wear thin, and we begin to expect some sort of sordid twist that will shake up the monotony of yet another flaky tale.
The respite arrives with Prunella Scales, whose effective performance as an elderly widow is both emotional and poignant, with a raw authenticity that leads you to empathise with her actions.
Although no fault of the actors themselves, this depth of character is rather lacking in other parts of the production.
Until Feb 11
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