Show: Radiant Vermin
Society: Cellar Door Theatre Company
Venue: cornerHouse Theatre
Credits: Philip Ridley
Type: Independent (registered user)
Author: Brittany Rex
Performance Date: 15/03/2024
Radiant Vermin
Brittany Rex | 11 Apr 2024 18:25pm
RID(D)LED WITH RADIANCE
Philip Ridley would have been delighted by the sheer verve, and exuberant confidence shown by
cast, creatives and director of last night’s production of his startling satire on greed and amorality.
Full marks for director Brittany Rex for overseeing a show whose macabre and sadistic elements
are not allowed to turn audience enjoyment into a sombre case of despondency. Well, we were taken
gently by the scruff of the neck by characters who had no trouble in effortlessly ignoring the fourth
wall, as well as enjoying the humorous banter between a married couple and thrilling to the
omniscience of a dream-like seller of Dream Homes.
The surreality of RADIANT VERMIN was tackled head on by the decision to dispense with props,
to allow the energy and skill of the actors to bring to life a baby, candlesticks, bedsheets, a whole
host of garden-party guests as well as savagely disposed of intruding homeless people. There was a
sense of the seaside pier as well as opulence in the rows of fairy lighting which embraced almost the
entire theatre – fittingly, as we audience members were part of the show! The sound of a threatening
drone fittingly introduced moments of true tension.
The three actors were equally praiseworthy in the tremendous effect they had on the audience. Stacy
Sobieski had two roles to play – her eerily confident and statuesque Miss Dee, dream-seller
extraordinaire, had a blissfully appropriate U.S.East Coast accent to captivate her willing victims of
her property selling scheme, and a totally unnervingly pathos-ridden air of self-sacrifice as the
downtrodden runaway Kay. Kimberley Ellis as Jill, the main drive behind home-improvements was
a delightfully seductive and witty wife, ever enticing the more laid-back husband into more acts of
lethally won renovations and improvements to their dream home. I was particularly impressed by
her Lady Macbeth-style apologising for her husband’s breakdown at the climactic garden party. Her
husband, Ollie, played by Tom Carter was by turns a whirlwind of activity, a cautious man-of-the-
house and a highly-strung overwrought victim of stress – a triumphant performance. The audience
of the regrettably final second night gave the players a deserved prolonged ovation for a thoroughly
professional job well done.
- : user
- : 15/03/2024