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By
Simon Pipe
If
comedy is all about timing, then Brian Mullin's new satire hits
the spot.
While
Tony Blair thumps the tub for war against Iraq, here comes Retrospect,
a fast-paced piece of theatre about the fight against terror.
Mullin's
play draws similarities between a US missile strike against unknown
but "suspected" terrorists, and a deposed dictator's attempts to
pass off murder of civilians as "rooting out terrorism".
As
matters spin hilariously out of control, truth becomes blurred and
assumptions are undermined.
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| Amanda
Walker explores love, hate and power |
The
scenario's not quite the same as the one being written by Bush and
Blair, but otherwise the scheduling is uncanny.
Retrospect
is one of four student plays receiving their premieres at theatres
around the city between February 25 and March 1.
They
are all finalists in the New Writing Festival staged each year by
the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS).
They
have been selected from dozens of plays submitted by students at
the university at the start of the academic year.
I love her so much. I could have cut her up into little pieces
and had her for lunch |
| Line
from Splitting Anna |
Finalist
Amanda Walker, writer of Splitting Anna - described as "a literate
Reservoir Dogs" - already has a pedigree as a playwright.
She
is a former member of the Royal Court Young Writer's Programme.
Her
story of "men, women and dismemberment" is directed by Polly Findlay,
an Exeter College student who appeared at the Young Vic and with
the Royal Shakespeare Company during eight years as a professional
actress.
Bear
necessities
It's
on at the Burton Taylor Theatre.
Lizzie
Nunnery's first play, The Fine Art of Falling to Pieces, is a "brilliant"
comedy about the struggle by a group of friends to understand -
well, the big issues in real life.
|
This is what it is, me and you sitting here on this couch. And
if there's no tomorrow and no Jane Austen and no Suzie, this'd
be the best place to be |
| Line
from The Fine Art of Falling to Pieces |
Much
of this takes place in pubs, including Oxford's oldest tavern, the
Bear.
Try
this for a scenario: Bella and Richard are going out but really
they hate each other; Bella loves Jamie but Jamie loves Suzie; Frank
fancies Bella but would say he was in love, exactly. But
Bella has bigger things on her mind.
Familiar
territory, then, for anyone who catches it at Wadham College's Moser
Theatre.
The
overall winner, though, was Too Much The Sun by Nicholas Pierpan
- also being performed at the Moser Theatre.
It
concerns a thief, newly released from prison, whose epileptic fits
come complete with mental red lights and the sound of Sammy Davis
Jr in his head. He never even liked Sammy Davis Jr.
There's
also an old clockmaker, Soros, who believes the former lifeboat
coxswain he employs to guard his property is going to kill him.
The
play follows the progress of the thief and the coxswain as they
piece together a puzzle of locks, clocks and guns arranged for them
by old Soros. It's
intriguing stuff, we're told.
Nightly
performances of all four plays take place between February 25 and
March 1.
See
our theatre
listings for details.
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