Emigrants is a drama between a Polish labourer (Radosław Smużny) who has emigrated overseas to earn more money, and the Polish lodger in his camper van (Krystian Wieczyński). It takes place on New Year's Eve, and over an hour, the two men talk intensely, argue, befriend each other, and question each other's motives for being there. There isn't, in other words, much of a story. It's more a probe to the meaning of existence, and why people are the way they are.

The lodger is a small man with glasses, an occasional nervous stammer, a philospher. He uses his superior intellect to mock the other man, and run clever circles in words around him. The owner of the van is fairly stupid but not entirely, more slow-witted, and occasionally cunning. The question underneath the play is why these two different men are sharing the intimate space of a van, though several answers spring to mind quickly - saving money, gay sex, running away from the past. The gay aspect is not developed, though there's a nuance of its possibility. Saving money, miserliness, petty theft - the owner steals the lodger's tea - are looked at in detail. Running away from themselves and their pasts is a thread through the play. One strand in the script is that the clever one needs the stupid one as the muse for his great work; the stupid one needs the clever one to borrow money off and share costs. There is a variation offered at the end, but a very banal one. The ending is simply odd: it's unclear what happens - possibly because the writer couldn't work out how to finish it - to the extent that someone has to come in and say that it has finished. Overall, it's a flat-share drama (occasionally sitcom) confined in a van; with an undigested textbook on existentialist theory dropped heavily on top.

Although Sławomir Mrożek's script isn't particularly imaginative - there are no startling insights into emigration or life, just what could be imagined without seeing the play - the acting is very strong. Radosław Smużny evokes the van owner with great subtlety; it would be easy to play the character in a one-dimensional way, but he delivers the man as completely credible and as someone who can be cared about. The same goes for Krystian Wieczyński's lodger; he presents a clever, not particularly pleasant, person with many sides to his personality, some of which are endearing. Both characters are completely convincing - there is never a sense of them being played by actors. This is a remarkable achievement, because the performance takes place in a Mercedes van (type L 508 D), with the audience (of up to 11) inside, so that the actors are almost on top of them the whole time - and the characters are talking all the way through.

The set is therefore the interior of the van, and consists of a U-shaped rear seat (for the audience) with lockers overhead, a kitchen worktop with sink and fridge under, a shower cubicle, a bed-space locker over the driving area, a door to the outside at the front right (it's left-hand-drive). There's excellent direction from Romuald Wicza–Pokojski, exploiting all the spaces in the van, and all its contents. The lodger swings up into the bed-space to dress and sometimes to speak from. He also uses a film camera plugged into a tv screen (visible to the audience) to film the driver in close-up at the wheel. The van itself is started up and moved a little. So nothing is wasted, everything used, and all the props that might be found in cupboards - tea, tins of meat, cups of tea, vodka, even party hats - are part of the action. A three-dimensional flat share drama therefore, but still a flat-share drama, and there are plenty of those.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Radosław Smużny - Man 1 (owner of van, taller). Krystian Wieczyński - Man 2 (lodger in van, shorter, with glasses).

Company Credits: Writer - Sławomir Mrożek. Director - Romuald Wicza–Pokojski. Lighting Designer - none. Sound Designer - none. Technical Operator - none. Producer - Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus. Company - Wiczy Theatre. Website - www.wicza.com

END

John Park

reviewed Friday 8 May 09 / 14:00 performance (started late, 14:30) / Camper Van outside Brighton Unitarian Church, Brighton UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

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