British playwright Beth Steel’s play TILL THE STARS COME DOWN is the current play at the KXT Broadway. The title suggests characters who keep pushing and pushing, no matter the obstacles.
The scenario features an extended family get together for the wedding of one of their own, twenties something, Sylvia. The bride is very anxious, the bridegroom, Marek, a little less so, and the rest of the family are in various heightened emotional states.
Sylvia and Marek do get married however that is about the only straight line path that the play takes. More and more cracks appear in the relationships between the characters.
Figuring large in the cracks is the racism that lies just under the surface within the family. Marek is a young, exuberant Polish guy, and many in the family do not approve of his East European background. Inevitably, the crack breaks open as the direct result of the actions of one of the characters.
Other cracks that appear include a marriage that is frayed to almost beyond repair, envious and flirtatious behaviour, and an illicit affair with huge consequence.
No doubt inspired by Anton Chekhov’s classic play, the biggest emotional bond is between the three sisters, and this is where the playwright hones in her drama. Imogen Sage as the tall, forthright Sylvia, Jane Angharad as Maggie who lives on her nerves, and Ainslie McGlynn as the firebrand, Hazel give strong performances.
Zoran Jevtic plays the very temperamental Mark, Peter Eyers plays the handsome, charming widowed father, Jo Briant is the high spirited, perhaps a bit insensitive Aunt Carol, married to the possessive Pete, played by Brendan Miles, and Amy Goedecke as the edgy Leanne and Kira McLennan as young girl Sarah, played Hazel’s two daughters.
Nick McGrory, Pita Lolohea, Cyan Fernando and Marley Isaace Dunn played waiters/stage hands, deftly moving stuff between scenes.
Once again, veteran independent theatre helmer Anthony Skuse, shows what a fine director he is. The staging works well with a great use of every possible entry point to the ‘planked’ set. There was good work by the design team: mainly, Topaz Marlay-Cole ’s lighting, Layla Phillips edgy soundscape, and Charlotte Savva’s savvy costumes. The cast kept their British accents well, (the play is set in the Midlands), owing to the work by Linda Nicholls-Gidley, and Diego Retamales choreographs/orchestrates the fight scenes well.
Yes, things do get very intense. What is about dramas that make them so compelling for audiences? This audience was on tenterhooks. We do know is that it has always been this way since the origins of theatre in ancient Greece. Perhaps it is to do with the unbearable sadness of being.
The season of Beth Steel’s TILL THE STARS COME DOWN is a sell-out, It is tremendous news for theatre companies Secret House and Bakehouse.
