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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Powerless
Verdict: Addiction drama
Powerless is drama about addiction. There's a cast of 7 (3F, 4M). It's in 2 acts, and lasts 2hr-10 min including a 20-minute interval.
The play centres on drug addicts undergoing 12-Step programmes. A condition is that each must admit to being Powerless and surrender to the help of a Higher Power (HP). (It's the methodology created by William Griffith Wilson and Dr Robert Smith, the two American alcoholics who created Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in 1935).
The action follows the individual addicts, intercutting fragments of their relationships with each other with group meetings and mantras.
The stage is set for a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting. There's Maggie (Philippa Hames), she's an addict - they all are. Martin (Travis Oliver), nerdy with baseball cap chairs the meeting, he's a bundle of neuroses. Carla (Alexa Asjes), chemically dependent, blonde-haired with a North American accent that's perhaps Canadian, bright floral dress, whines out her story, with sudden anger. Johnnie (Philip Leamon), Irish, rough, extremely aggressive, is 15 years an addict. Lukas (Pano Masti), Mediterranean accent, recalls his past and takes the opportunity for a laying on of hands on Carla. Nina (Jenny Harrald) arrives, and Johnnie's galvanised. They have a past.
Nina and Johnnie's past relates to reformed addict Morgan (Eugene Washington), who runs a therapy centre. They blame his treatment of addict Serena for her suicide. Nina has lover Daniel Barton (Travis Oliver), who teases her about her writing ambitions. Nina's a match for Daniel, Johnnie and Morgan. Wily and manipulative, she uses each in turn, and differently.
There's strong direction from Bronwen Carr; a fine central performance from Jenny Harrald as Nina; and gifted performances from each of the cast. The script, Alice Kahrmann, is a study of addiction, how addicts switch from one addiction to another, and the nature of addictive personality.
Cast Credits: Alexa Asjes - Carla. Philippa Hames - Maggie. Jenny Harrald - Nina. Philip Leamon - Johnny. Pano Masti - Lukas. Travis Oliver - Daniel / Martin. Eugene Washington - Morgan.
Company Credits: Writer - Alice Kahrmann. Director - Bronwen Carr. Assistant Director - David Mercatali. Lighting - Robert Stemson. Sound - Juhani Naukkarinen. Stage manager - Jess Jenkins. Flyer Design - Jack Constantine, Virginia Young. Producer - Alice Kahrmann, Virginia Young. Company - Aurora Light Productions www.auroralight.net. Venue Credits: Barons Court Theatre: Artistic Director - Ronald Phillips.
END
John Park
reviewed Wednesday 5 January 05 / Barons Court Theatre
(c) Fringe Report 2005
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
