CurtainUp
CurtainUp

The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
www.curtainup.com


HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH

REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp London London Review
Fireface


I know it wasn’t a gradual thing, more like a shutter that had come down. — Mother
Fireface
Helen Schlesinger as the Mother and Aimée-Ffion Edwards as Olga (Photo: Jane Hobson)
Marius von Mayenburg’s early and breakthrough play Fireface is directed at the Young Vic by Sam Pritchard, the winner of the James Menzies-Kitchin award for young directors. The 90 minute play is a non-compromising study of two German teenagers in a dysfunctional family whose dysfunctional behaviour spills into outside society with terrible consequences.

In the Clare studio space at the Young Vic, the family of actors are onstage as we arrive in the auditorium. Harshly lit Helen Schlesinger as the Mother stares at us as does the Father (David Annen), with his receding hairline and Amish type beard. The effect is unsettling, even sinister. Aimée-Ffion Edwards as Olga, the teenage daughter stands on a chair to deliver her first speeches. The lighting is so disturbing that this attractive girl looks ugly and of course what she has to say isn’t very pretty either. Her younger brother Kurt (Rupert Simonian) has had this dream, a nightmare of being in a tunnel and in intense pain and suddenly seeing a bright light which he is convinced is a memory of his birth.

The parents argue incessantly and, while the mother complains, Hans her husband reads the newspaper at every opportunity, fascinated by the hunt for a serial murderer of prostitutes. At dinner the father raises the issue of some menstrual blood he has found in the bathroom. The parents lie in bed at opposite ends of the stage crudely illustrating their distance. What von Mayenburg does is to show us how the family can be either unknowing or in denial about their own children, failing to make connections between Kurt’s perpetual puberty and Olga’s burgeoning sexuality and the experimentation of both. While Olga talks about sex and finds a bike riding boyfriend, disarmingly played by William Postlethwaite, Kurt is fascinated with the light and destructive power of fire.

The boxed set is made of unpainted wooden shelving with spaces for the children to hide in, like a just unpacked flat pack. The props are of household objects, so the bathroom cabinet being used tells us that we are in the bathroom, where the mother strips off in front of the protesting Kurt. As Kurt tries to cut himself off inside the house he winds red tape around his space in a symbolic exclusion.

With the exception of Paul, there is no love for any of the characters. Even the likeable Paul is treated by the father with such favouritism that we are embarrassed that he shows no such interest in his own children. The performances are convincing but unredeeming.

Fireface is a complex play full of ugliness and Sam Pritchard has developed the ideas in an underlined way, signposting the audience to notice the connections which may reduce the impact of stumbling on them oneself.

Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe, E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country.
Fireface
Written by Marius von Mayenburg
Translated by Maja Zade
Directed by Sam Pritchard

Starring: David annen, Aimée-Ffion Edwards, William Postlethwaite, Helen Schlesinger, Rupert Simonian
Designed by Amanda Stoodley
Lighting: Anna Watson
Sound: Peter Rice
Running time: One hour 30 minutes without an interval
Box Office: 020 7922 2922
Booking to 20th October 2012
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 4th October 2012 performance at the Young Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8LZ (Rail/Tube:Waterloo)

REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of Fireface
  • I disagree with the review of Fireface
  • The review made me eager to see Fireface
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V):

Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email . . . also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review.

London Theatre Walks


Peter Ackroyd's  History of London: The Biography



London Sketchbook



tales from shakespeare
Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co.
Click image to buy.
Our Review


©Copyright 2012, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com