Writer: Alison Skilbeck
Director: Gareth Armstrong
What must they think of us, those giants who supervise our days out in the parks and commons. We can gain some inkling from Alison Skilbeck’s latest solo show – told from the perspective of a great old tree in Clapham Common which sees the lives of locals pass by beneath its branches.
Over the course of seven short monologues (including the tree itself) we get a little snapshot of how life in lockdown unspooled for a small selection of loosely interconnected Clapham residents who exercise and socialise across the large open space.
Skilbeck has written a deeply attractive handful of portraits here, with some lovely technical features linking them together. Whether through shared language, references, different angles on common issues or perspectives on interactions, the threads running through do a super job of creating a gentle sense of anticipation and keenness for what we’ll hear from the next character.
These are nice stories, never getting too exciting but not boring either. It’s gentle, good-natured and explores some of the human difficulties of the lockdown period with compassion rather than a forensic and dramatic pulse. All goes well until the shift in tone at the end when the tree has its say. Less human interest, more passionate defence of the role of the tree and nature in our lives, it’s compelling but feels incongruous set alongside the other character driven pieces.
Inhabiting all these different people, as monologues within a one-person play, Skilbeck does a great job. The french accented Tilly proves a challenge but she shines as the slightly overwhelmed older mum with a taste for gin, and the elderly Doug who faces the prospect of a sick wife and a loss of genuine love and companionship.
It’s an intriguing idea, placing these characters together, bound by various loose social links as well as their common habits near this tree. It’s not perfectly balanced yet, a collection of nice parts that are certainly recognisable as a unit but have not fully cohered.
Runs until 25th November 2023.
The Reviews Hub Score
Gentle monologues
