4Plays at Traverse, Edinburgh Review
Written by Kerry for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
4Plays is back for its fourth year, bringing together faces both old and new to present four pieces of new writing from Scottish creatives.
CHIPS ★ ★ ★
CHIPS by Ruaraidh Murray is based on a true story. Set in 1996, it follows the robbery of microchips from a banking office complex by pregnant Kaz and her pal Wan. From the get-go, the piece has an instant Glaswegian twang to it; the quick-witted writing of Murray lends itself nicely to the performances of Christie Russell-Brown and Calum Manchip, along with Murray himself. I did feel like the piece could have been longer, especially when compared to other pieces of the night. And even though I could kinda tell how the rest of the story would pan out, it would be interesting to see what genre it leads with, as it feels like a multitude would work well.
BRACE ★ ★ ★ ★
BRACE follows two seventeen-year-olds, Paul and Lewis, both apprentices in the scaffolding trade, who, after a workplace accident, have to compete with each other to secure only one job. The piece keeps a pretty light comedic yet chaotic tone, putting together the set during the performance instead of prior helps immerse the audience into the world of scaffolding. The dialogue had a good sense of flow, never feeling static, but still had a sense of roughness to it, helping to pull the audience in even further. Like other pieces of the night, I could work out what the beats of the full piece were most likely, but interested if it would turn satirical or keep to a more toned down comedy.
Sunday Palms ★ ★ ★
Sunday Palms by Sean Langtree begins with a very slow burn opening, taking a few minutes to actually understand what the story of the piece is. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but for an extract, it may have taken a little too much time up, giving the audience less time to connect with both characters. Langtree’s Nathan was the standout of the piece, tittering between gentle giant and psychotic tough man, pairing well with Daniel Campbell’s character, Brian, creating an almost yin and yang pairing. It did, however, seem like the piece ended pretty abruptly, which worked well, especially with the subject matter, but gives the impression that this was the high point of the script, and the rest becomes more about what happens past the revelation than character development and relationship.
HUNT ★ ★ ★
HUNT follows two friends, Mags and Joel, who have moved off-grid to escape a society taken over by artificial intelligence. The two characters having different levels of survival training adds to the realism of the piece, creating a stronger contrast between the women. Using artificial intelligence as the villain is an interesting take, one that will continue to become more commonplace in scripts going forward. It gives the piece a sense of altered science fiction that is real and is easily understood by its audience. I did like the addition of the dance routine as an almost comic relief number, but the piece did seem to rush through a lot in a very short space of time, which could cause potential issues going forward, and I would have to be careful if and when fleshing out to a full-length script.
