Afraid of the Dark?

Article by Eilidh MacAskill | 15 Feb 2006
Afraid of the Dark?
(Measureless Liars)

Phobias and paranoid hallucinations are good fodder for low-budget theatre, a medium whose potency is dependent on the conjuring of worlds from words alone. So as the couple in this work-in-progress descend into the dark world of their own psyches and start 'seeing things', it's inevitable that the audience will also 'see' the maggots and monsters described. This piece has potential and the actors do their jobs well. But the confusion the characters feel while fumbling in the half-light (it never actually gets dark because of the very bright green exit signs) seems mirrored in the work's overall aim; does it want to be a spooky, funny, site-specific experience, or serious drama? There are also some discrepancies in the desired tension between the real and imagined and just where they would like us to suspend our disbelief. For example, when the male character asks "What's that humming? Can you hear that?" I was sorely tempted to shout, "Yeah, it's the piano player in the corner with a mouthie!", which it was. [Eilidh MacAskill]
The Arches, Glasgow, Jan 20.