Husk – Hope Mill, Manchester

Writer: Rupert Hill

Director: Joseph Houston

Advance publicity for Rupert Hill’s Husk hints at a revenge thriller, so it is surprise that the play is more of an uplifting tale of redemption in the style of The Shawshank Redemption.

Beth (Danielle Henry) and her husband Clark (Daniel Poyser) take time out from running their modest hotel to look after Beth’s father, Graham (David Crellin) whose increasing forgetfulness may be the first signs of the onset of dementia. The couple were at school with Ray (author Rupert Hill) who is newly released from gaol but still struggles with his demons. Beth tries to help Ray but is unaware he may hold a grudge as Graham was responsible for his imprisonment.

Although Husk is Rupert Hill’s first play he has previously written for the screen and there is a cinematic quality to the play. There are many short scenes and the story jumps from past to present with the timeline made clear by timecodes popping up on a screen to the rear of the stage.

More significantly, the story avoids the grand emotions often expressed in theatre and instead pursues a low-key vibe more suitable for the screen. No effort is made to show Ray as a figure of dramatic retribution but rather a damaged and confused individual.

At heart Husk is a cautionary tale of the horrors of addiction and the impact of grief. Rupert Hill gives a disturbing depiction of the effects of alcohol dependency. Hill moves Ray, convincingly, from a schoolboy who gains artificial confidence from booze to a fully dependent, hollowed-out husk constantly flinching away from life and worn to the bone.

Ray moves towards salvation with assistance from Stan (David McCreedy) a mentor figure encountered during incarceration. McCreedy’s delivery in the style of a tough but caring military sergeant gets most of the laughs in the play, but lengthy speeches on how to tackle alcoholism feel like gilding the lily when Hill’s tortured performance makes clear the horror of addiction without the need for words.

The actors serve to do more than just advance the plot. Daniel Poyser is convincing as a schoolyard bully and overbearing husband to the extent one wonders how he attracted someone as sensitive as Beth. Beth seems surprisingly naïve, being unaware of her father’s criminal activities and of the possibility Ray may have romantic feelings.

Although act one ends on a cliff-hanger there is little suspense or tension in the play. As Graham’s mental health has deteriorated, he can realistically claim not to remember the harm he caused to Ray so the confrontation between them is not cathartic. Typical of the low-key vibe of the play, Ray is compelled to find a less dramatic means of redemption.

Husks tackles also the subject of coping with grief. Ray’s difficulty in reconciling with his mother’s death causes him to steal a mannequin dressed in her clothes and later to attempt what might be termed ‘suicide by Norman Bates’- antagonising aggressive hooligans in an original manner. But, as always in the play, the drama is downplayed. Ray falling off the waggon and taking a drink for the first time in seven years is not as devastatingly shameful as one might expect.

Husk is a well-acted and heartfelt study of addiction and grief although the emphasis upon realism limits the dramatic impact of the story.

Runs until 29^th September 2024 at Hope Mill, Manchester, then 2^nd and 3^rd October 2024 at The Dukes, Lancaster.