Writers: Jez Butterworth
Director: James Haddrell
Can the feeling of a distant memory ever be fully recreated?
This is the question that swirls around Jez Butterworth’s now classic play The River. Revived for a run at the Greenwich Theatre, directed by artistic director James Haddrell, this play proves just as entrancing and thought-provoking as it did over a decade ago.
Within the main stage, we are greeted by a realistic cabin in the middle of the woods. Designed by Emily Bestow, the creation of the cabin is full and tangible, lived in without a sense of overbearing. Mottled banners hang throughout the space outside of the cabin’s interior, evoking the feeling of being hemmed in on either side by dark, spindly trees, although a sense of motion from these elements could help the stage feel less stagnant at times.
Paul McGann of Doctor Who fame plays the Man, a jaded fishing obsessive who continually brings women to the cabin that used to belong to his uncle to fish, have sex and say that he loves them. Kerri McLean and Amanda Ryan play different girlfriends at undisclosed times in the Man’s life, blending between each scene seamlessly. The first sign of things being out of place is subtly unnerving to watch.
On the whole, the trio’s performances are stellar. McGann comes off as enticing but with an edge of mystique, while Ryan and McLean’s performances are fully believable in their naturalism, perfectly grounding the discomforting regularity of this world.
The play paints lush strokes of memory, promises and complicated desire, especially when the characters recount features of the local river and elements of the past, picking and choosing only the choice parts that add more pieces to the puzzle of this play.
The play swims in a lulling pace that almost mimics the pace of the docile river itself, but at times, this is at a detriment to the overall piece. Some moments, such as when McGann guts an entire, real fish on stage to the disgust of the audience, must take their time, but much of the second half suffers from a needlessly drawn-out sense of pace.
Guaranteed to spark multi-layered conversation on the way home, Jez Butterworth’s The River is a must-see play for those who have not seen it before.
Until 27 October 2024
