Review: STREET, Barons Court Theatre
Miriam and Foster are battling it out on the cold streets of London; dodging the police, begging for change to be able to buy food, and trying to stay sane under a blinding street lamp. One day, two strangers appear on their street and there seems to be something off about them….
This show marks the second production that Australian company, Mon Sans Productions, has produced in the UK. This production is also in association with Barons Court Project, a charity which supports homeless people in the Hammersmith and Fulham area, meaning that 10% of the money made at the box office will be donated to the charity.
The design of the show is pretty bare bones: paper flyers and adverts haphazardly line the walls of the stage space, a street lamp looms directly in front of the middle back wall and a metal bin sits off to the side of the stage space. It's very effective in its simplicity, especially given that the only warmth comes from the streetlamp, and gives the audience the sense that the set is as discarded as the people who live on it feel.
The plot itself takes a while to get going with its somewhat dragged out show of daily life on the streets. To improve, we think that the pace could be picked up a bit more as well as more of an emphasis placed on creating tension to really draw the audience in and make them care about the characters on stage, outside of the fact that the characters are homeless. Some of the lines that the characters say come seemingly out of nowhere and, at times, lack cohesion meaning there are points when it's hard to understand the purpose of the scene or motivations behind what the characters are saying. Not to mention that sometimes the dangers of living on the street are understated and a lot of characters are cagey, which unfortunately means that the show loses a lot of its potential dramatic tension within its story and we find ourselves having trouble connecting with the characters.
That being said, it is also possible to see this drawn out emphasis on the daily struggle as deliberately evoking frustration because of its mundanity. Nothing changes. The characters live in a bubble that no one seems intent on bursting. It also speaks to the effect that living on the streets can have on people's mental health, with the days blurring into one and the inability to do anything about it without community aid. However, even this aspect lacks that hard hitting impact that would make this piece really connect to audiences.
The plot definitely picks up towards the second part of the play with the introduction of Fay and Christian, two people who decide to pretend to be homeless. This is very intriguing to watch, especially given the deliberate obscurity behind their intentions of doing it. We are outraged by these characters' brashness towards what they’re doing and tokenising to the extent of dehumanising Miriam and Foster.
Yet again, the pacing is off at times, with characters snapping out of nowhere with limited build up and events happening without much provocation. Christian is a confusing character as his sinisterness seems unfounded and again, a lot of lines lack cohesion and motivation.
But it must be said that the highlight of the show is the conversation between Fay and Miriam about the mermaid bedding. This is a surprisingly deep and meaningful conversation about how the little details and embellishments don’t matter when you lack the basics. It feels intimate and really allows us to connect with these characters and their battle with appearances and how much these tend to hide what lies beneath. It's a gorgeous moment and really shows how much potential this script has with further development.
Maisie Tideman (who plays Miriam) proves, once again, that she’s a strong performer who is well suited to the gritty roles that she tends to perform. She (and the director) clearly takes the wider world of the show into consideration when performing in the background of scenes, to the extent that, at times, her background acting is more intriguing and captivating than anything else that’s going on stage.
It's also worth mentioning that Serena Lehman gives the show a very much needed energy boost within her characterisation of Fay as someone with an almost anxious and chaotic charisma.
A very well intentioned and kind piece with lots of potential.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Megan O’Neill