Peter Whelan's play is a semi-autobiographical
story of conscript, Pat Harford (played by Adam Crook), an idealistic and dreamy
19-year-old sergeant. It follows his journey as a green national
serviceman to war-torn West Berlin in 1950 at the height of the cold
war to work for the British Army's Education Corps.
In the first scene we meet Pat just after he has
played a gruelling tennis match against Clive
Burns (Matt Davies) whom he soon
learns is his superior officer and, unbeknown to I, an agent for the
British Army Intelligence Service. The encounter evokes an atmosphere -
at the heart of that era - of fear and duplicity.
The title of the play refers to Pat's memory of seeing a Russian
border guard while passing the frontier, before the start of the play;
to Pat, a
humanitarian, the enemy now has a human face.
When he arrives at a large commandeered house, an
army outpost in Charlottenburg, he meets
Ilse Bucher (Liv Fewster) his commanding
officer's secretary, who dreams of flying to America, and to whom he is
instantly attracted. Encouraged by the secretly homosexual Fraser Cullen (Simon
Roberts), they arrange to meet at a dance. However Pat is stood up by Ilse and ends up bringing
back American soldier Lloyd Jackson (Brendan Murphy) to the empty outpost that he is
supposed to be guarding. The American points out to Pat that the outpost house, stolen
by the Nazis, would have been owned by a Jewish family. Jackson claims that he is
gay and though Pat is curious he rejects his sexual advances. The next morning Lloyd has vanished and Pat is court-marshalled and
accused of handing over military intelligence to Jackson, who in reality is Emil Voss an East German
spy. Pat's
innocent and romantic world view leaves him appalled at the treatment
of Voss and, to
protect him, he falsely claims to be homosexual, backing up Voss's alibi.
Adam Crook, as Pat
Harford, certainly looked the part: his
young open face perfectly capturing the seriousness, naivety and
befuddlement of a boy becoming a man, suddenly forced to take
responsibility and testing the value of his rose-tinted ideals. Crook
still has a way to go in producing a good cohesive performance, and the
lead role in this production was at this stage beyond him, but
certainly given more experience with some juicy roles he will surely
become an asset to the South London Stage.
Ilse is a fascinating
character and the only female in the piece. Originally from East Berlin
we hear how the horrors of the war took their toll - she was forced to
hide in a bunker with just rotting corpses for company - and, in a
darkly comic moment, how she ate the odd stray dog to stay alive: "they say a dog is a man's best friend …it's
true."
Like Crook, Liv Fewster lacked the experience to
fully realise the role of Ilse but some good moments did shine through,
thanks to her naturalistic approach.
Another strong role was that of Frazer Cullen, gleefully played by
Simon Roberts. A multi-faceted character who, being a 'tolerated army
gay', can see all to clearly the dangers of blackmail, bullying and
ridicule that lie in wait for Pat after his false confession of homosexuality and
successfully persuades him not to follow through. Roberts fully
appreciated the fun to be had with the part of Cullen and rejoiced in it in an
almost John Sessions-like style, especially when waltzing Ilse and Pat around the office, his
lit cigarette clamped at the corner of his mouth and perilously close
to his partners face.
Matt Davies as the sinister intelligence officer Clive Burns was also a
pleasure to watch; we felt secure in his able hands as he bullied and
threatened his way into the life and mind of our hero Pat Harford.
Lisa Thomas's direction was unobtrusive, allowing
the characters and plotline to tell their story unimpeded any by fussy
or over-produced ideas. At times this worked very well and the simple
set consisting of an outline of a room - just doorframes and cornicing
- was a master stroke. However I do think that given the relative
inexperience of some of the cast, a firmer and more positive approach
from Thomas would have made all the difference, particularly in
heightening the energy and drama in the production which never really
exceeded average.
This was a shame as I am always excited by the
variety and range of the South London Theatre programme, and by the
drive and youthfulness of the society as a whole. A Russian in the Woods was a
brave and therefore typical choice of production by SLT; unfortunately
this time they didn't quite pull it off. Still, not to worry, with
twenty-two shows a year and a healthy social atmosphere, SLT can afford
the occasional dip, and this reviewer can testify that this is a very
rare occurrence from this vibrant London group.
Jane Lobb.
