While We Wait at Arches Lane Theatre Review
Written by Penny for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
“Time flies when you’re having fun”.
So says Trudy, one of the characters in this two-hander from writer Doe Willman. Director Scott Le Crass has certainly given this story of time slowing down, speeding up and running away a cracking pace as we move through a fledgeling relationship between a couple who themselves are moving at very different speeds.
Although it has plenty of lighter moments, with Trudy and nurse Lee getting to know each other and doing all the usual couple things (out for dinner, going to a gig, er, skydiving?!), this slice of normal life is overshadowed by the fact that Trudy doesn’t have much time, she’s dying. So all of the usual couple things take on a greater significance. We learn a little of Lee’s backstory and about his older brother whose life-changing accident seems to have influenced his career choice. This is Lee’s trauma, but there’s very little emotion when he talks about him.
In the first scene, time literally stands still for Lee and from that point his life is moving at a slower pace than the rest of the world. This is a nice idea but doesn’t make much sense. Time is a device that has been explored to great effect in novels like The Time Traveller’s Wife and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but it’s something that’s very difficult to bring to the stage. In this case, apart from a bit of slow motion movement and a quip about their first long and satisfying sexual encounter (his pov) lasting for 20 seconds (her pov), it isn’t explored.
The set is very simple – a black box with no furniture other than six light-up cubes that are rearranged by the actors to give us the various locations, changing colours to reflect the mood. It’s all that’s needed. The actors are dressed casually, they’re relatable and nothing out of the ordinary, although why they both perform with bare feet is not explained!
Despite the good pacing and the everyday nature of some of the situations, this is not an easy play to follow. The actors do not project to the back of the auditorium. As Lee, Ricky Oakley speaks very quickly and quietly and although he has the more humorous lines and delivers with good timing, it’s often hard to hear the full speech so jokes are lost. In contrast, Kirsten Callaghan as Trudy has a much slower delivery, with a lot of her dialogue having a poetic tone that doesn’t feel natural – particularly in contrast with Oakley’s fast pace. It’s ironic that the pace of delivery is opposite to the character’s own concept of time. Lee is living life in slow motion but gabbling his words. Time is running out for Trudy but she’s declaiming her inner thoughts as if she has all the time in the world. This may have been a deliberate choice, but it isn’t effective as it doesn’t show us two characters perfectly in time with each other, against the odds.
The play’s ending isn’t particularly heartbreaking or heartwarming. It shows Lee trying to convey a positive message about living life to the full, seizing the day and making the most of the time you have. A final speech about randomness and disorder, using a pack of cards to highlight the point, fell a little flat as it was a bit of a convoluted way to get this message across, whilst something simple and from the heart would have been a lot more impactful.
The concept of a life in slow motion vs time running out is a very interesting one but this play fails to deliver on the promise of its original concept. With a lot of dialogue lost to poor diction and projection, the characters did not convince or gain my sympathy. The idea is a good one but it definitely needs, ironically, more time spent on its development if it is to fulfil its potential.
While We Wait runs at Arches Lane Theatre, Battersea, until Saturday 7th March.
★★