Put Out His Eyes, Lion and Unicorn Theatre Review
Written by Bronagh for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Content warnings – strong language, threat of sexual violence, themes of mutilation, violence
A beautiful princess being rescued by a handsome peasant? You’d be forgiven for thinking that you’ve walked into a pantomime. However, this is late January with pantomime seasons done, dusted and waiting to defrost in December. Oh, and the princess and peasant are hiding in a cave as their city is being besieged. Maybe not your usual Cinderella or Aladdin storyline.
Put Out His Eyes is an hour-long sneak peak into the power dynamic between the princess (played by Hannah Omisore) and the peasant (Daniel Morris), two people of very different social classes. So much so that the peasant cannot even look at the princess, making for a rather awkward first half where Morris must avert his gaze and crawl around so as to not break this ancient law. The city below is being reduced to rubble, much like the could-be relationship between the pair as they start to uncover some dark truths about one another.
On paper, Put Out His Eyes sounds like a promising production with fresh takes. Glimmers of dark fairytale elements are clearly present, with eyes being gouged out and knives fought over. Having a princess in control of the situation for the most part, despite the peasant trying to take over, is also welcome in this ‘modern fairytale’. Despite these promising elements, I did find it hard to stay engaged and interested throughout, almost struggling to get the crux of the longer speeches and willing them to get to the point. The potential is absolutely there, and for a debut this is so promising, but work needs to be done to make this the brilliant play that it very well could be.
I appreciate Put Out His Eyes only ran for little over an hour and you have to be realistic about what you can fit into that time. Even an extra twenty minutes could have done the job, perhaps, and explored so many more possibilities relating to social and gender norms. Even making more use of the space would have been effective; the staging consisted of two curtains which weren’t used at all, almost wasting a lot of the stage. At one point I did think a curtain was being used to hide Omisore and was slightly disappointed when I realised that she was sat at the front of the stage and my view was simply obscured
I will say, the use of lighting was good particularly with the gouging out the eyes scene. Sounding was a little off and at times I wasn’t sure if I could hear wind, a tube or the theatres air con system. I can’t fault the production on this, as I suspect it is more an issue with the venue.
I genuinely did enjoy Omisore and Morris’ performances, and thought Omisore made a wonderful princess commanding the stage and certainly believable as being in power. The pair clearly do make the most of what they have been given.
I don’t want to make out that Put Out His Eyes is disappointing as it really isn’t; this is a debut production which needs some ironing and padding out. I have no doubt that this could be a great show, there is potential peeking out which needs to come to the surface.
At the Lion and Unicorn Theatre until 1st February
★ ★ ★
