“Laugh, you bastard, laugh. Don’t cry – they’ve won then.”
In the world of up-and-coming directors, Blanche McIntyre has rightly been gaining a lot of plaudits for her work at the Finborough and beyond, but to my mind Jessica Swale is right up there with her. With her Red Handed Theatre Company, she’s been building up a diverse body of work, whether turning her hand to reinvigorating classics like The Rivals and The Belle’s Stratagem with a sparkling fresh modernity, or lending a clear-sighted intensity to modern plays such as Palace of the End, which genuinely has to rank as one of the best productions I have seen in recent years. Her latest production for the Southwark Playhouse fits into the second of these categories as it is a revival of Frank McGuinness’ 1992 hostage drama Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me.
The set-up is simple, an intense three-hander which follows the experiences of an American and an Irishman being held hostage in Lebanon, and then later an Englishman, as they while away the hours and days trying to keep their spirits up yet dogged by the horrendous uncertainty of how close they are to death. Mainly they do this through humour and flights of fancy of the imagination – re-enacting Virginia Wade playing at Wimbledon, picking their Desert Island Discs, introducing each other to their favourite drinks from the cocktail bar, impersonating rabbits, the Queen and telling some cracking jokes. But this enforced bonhomie can only distract them from the reality of the situation for so long and fractiousness frequently raises its head alongside the despair they’re all trying to hide. Continue reading “Review: Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Southwark Playhouse”
