After a late start, Crave kicks off rapidly, with each of the four characters standing on stage speaking their own dialogue - sometimes as if the others weren't there - sometimes seeming to interact and link up. Soon, they turn to face each other, as if a therapy group, but again, only part seeming to pay any attention to each other's words. Sometimes they seem to answer questions the others fire, but more often, the phrases are detached. Each of the four characters - two male, two female - appears to be trying to make some sense of their own experiences, perhaps using the other three, perhaps despite them.

There are some striking lines - which sadly tend to serve to knock out attention to the next one. For example one character announcing 'I'm not a rapist. I'm a paedophile' - as if this in some way was better. Other memorable lines were 'You get mixed messages because I have mixed feelings', 'I'm not what I am, I'm what I do', 'the fags aren't killing me fast enough', and 'I'm an emotional plagiarist'. Sometimes the actors seem to talk in their pairs, ignoring the other pair, their speeches linking up together - but the pairings quickly vary, and maybe this is simply staging, to keep variety, movement and interest up. There seems to be some sexual tension between some couplings.

The paedophile talks about loving someone - perhaps the person he'd talked about stalking earlier. The blonde-haired woman repeats 'this has to stop' getting louder over him. The brunette-haired woman talks about deliberately getting pregnant by a stranger, with a line late on about 'there's something very unflattering about being desired by someone too drunk to see'. This leads on to issues of motherhood - her need to have a child. But when other characters say 'You could be my mother', she's quick to spit out 'I'm not your mother'. The blonde-haired woman claims she's had children taken away, and talks about a rape.

Other themes include death, black and white, failing to stop others' pain, male rape (by a woman), parental abuse, and having feelings - or not. Towards the end, they use religious lines, such as 'as it was in the beginning'. Occasionally one character goes quiet for a time, then restarts suddenly. One of the men takes longer to characterise than the other three. He occasionally speaks in a foreign language. Sitting in the dark, he describes gravity. Finally, they move back to the ever-present theme of death, asking if it's the end, and could be a source of happiness.

How linked are the four? Are they talking to each other? Are they talking about each other? Are they four lonely individuals whose stories merely happen to share some similar elements? And does that matter anyway, to empathise with their pain?

The actors' passion shows through in their performance, and the script has some strong lines. But the whole feel is confusing and disjointed, and because of that, somewhat disappointing.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Stephanie Bain - D. Alexandra Guelff - C. Osheen Jones - B. Edward Rice - A.

Company Credits: Writer - Sarah Kane. Director - Osheen Jones and the company. Technical Designer - Rob Mills. Technical Operator - Mike Fletcher. Producer - Natasha Lennard. Company - Little Agitations.

END

(c) 2007

reviewed Tuesday 7 August 07 / C cubed

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008