Cut
CUT Downstairs Theatre, Belvoir St; 7 April-1 May, 2011. Photos: Heidrun Lohr
Late-comers will not be admitted to the theatre, is the first thing to know; and as Duncan Graham’s monologue for one superb actor (and some light and sound effects) is only 50 minutes in duration, you don’t want to miss any of it. Not just because every minute is a minute to savour, but also because you won’t have a clue what’s going on if you don’t immerse yourself in its world from the opening moments.
What is going on is a matter for debate and, probably, personal preference. A woman (Anita Hegh) talks to strangers around her – or perhaps simply to the audience; she is on a bus on her way to or from work; she is on a plane; she is a flight attendant. Or perhaps she is sending up being a flight attendant; or sending up the monster in the dark. A man – “with eyes of ash” – who may be a stalker or her imagination, or a memory, fascinates her. And so it goes – or not: up to you.
As performed by the actor’s actor Hegh (just out of Belvoir’s previous big hit The Wild Duck) the fleeting riddles become compelling drama as suspicions and inklings begin to dawn on various members of the audience – you can feel the ripples of anticipation and discomfort – in the intense velvety dark of the Downstairs theatre. The lighting design by Danny Pettingil is more an exercise in negative space as Hegh emerges and disappears from soft pools of light that enhance the angles and planes of her face and, somehow, the ways she speaks. Momentary strobe flashes and the electronic games played with her voice also create extraordinary effects as they seemingly hang in the air (or burned on the eyelids and echoing in the ears) long after logic tells us that they are gone, over.
Writer Graham and director Sarah John are long time collaborators, according to the notes, and have been working on this idea for some years: I guess they found their actor – one who is prepared to take the flying leap into the dark, both physical and conceptual – and the rest is performance. The suspense is excruciating at times and Hegh is never less than mesmerizing and, it has to be said, far greater than the material. But the material is pretty good and through it she gives us the most concentrated and amazing 50 minutes you’re likely to see this or any other year.
