Photography by Tony Davison
A woman is waiting in a bar, drinking her drink, when the table next to her is filled by a man with bruised knuckles and an obvious temper. Over three scenes, they meet, spend the night together and early the next morning, they look at possible lives together - despite both clearly having short fuses and a powderkeg of emotions inside that could explode both of them before too long. John Patrick Shanley's play is over 40 years old but the types it displays are familiar, damaged people who we fear could do damage to one another as easily as they could to themselves - and while it never quite tips over the edge we're left in constant tension that it could any moment.
In some ways this play is an actor's exercise, giving them a chance to play extreme figures discovering tenderness neither are sure they deserve - but this production has found two great actors to exercise with - Jacqui Purvis and JK Kazzi are both a powerful pair of combatants and we're glued them all the way through, even during a scene-change which is a ballet of give-and-take between them. Director Nigel Turner-Carroll gives the production just the right amount of tension on its way to a surprisingly satisfying payoff. It's a minimalist production (only a little bit of furniture with a few clever lighting effects) but a powerful and engaging one.
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