A powerhouse performance: riveting right from the start with its dark premise, music and visuals. Country and Folk songs played as the audience took their seats such as: “Hope I Don’t Fall In Love With You” by Tom Waits, “Hurt” by Johnny Cash, and “Into My Arms” by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. These gorgeously sombre tracks set the scene wonderfully. One barn-door light shone down on the bar/bedroom side-by-side set with a greeny-blue wash of colour. Danny (Danny Solomon) and Roberta (Hannah Ellis Ryan) were certainly sinking down into the murky waters as life had dealt them a severely bad hand.
Danny, a trucker, and Roberta, a distressed young mother with a teenage son, were pretty much made for each other in some respects. Despite living two dissimilar lives, they were both extremely unhappy, agitated, and suffering. Therefore, they could empathise and connect with one another from that perspective. Danny’s fellow truck drivers called him, “The Beast” - especially as he went around beating people up. This reckless and explosive identity was not something Danny was happy to own deep down. Meanwhile, the disturbing memories of the past came back to haunt Roberta. You’d think there would be no room for a relationship, commitment, and romantic love in their lives but actually there just about was. A volatile, unhealthy, and tangled love but, nevertheless, love. These two characters were at their lowest point over the night the play took place. As they fell for one another, it also became a night of comfort, kindness, and a glimmer of happiness. Is there any hope in this unlikely and unconventional love story of boy meets girl?
Both Solomon and Ryan give it everything they’d got in this one act drama. The characters were essentially testosterone-fuelled, broken, frantic, isolated, and dejected. On the other hand, as a result of fine acting and thorough writing (John Patrick Shanley) we got to witness Danny and Roberta at their exact opposite too. Buried way down deep in their own drowning and troubled souls was their capacity to feel, to love, and reach out. Well rounded characterisation was absolutely shown. The focus, reactivity, and instinctive acting demonstrated from Solomon and Ryan was commendable. You can tell they have rehearsed and performed the play numerous times to the point where it felt like their performances were second-nature. The variation in tone and pace was well judged and made watching it an exciting ride.
Swimming deeper down into the play, it explores the downward spiralling path to a person’s lowest point. Ultimately, cross-examining the cascading impact negative life events have on an individual’s mental health, relationships, self-worth, and identity. A vicious circle which may likely lead to some kind of addiction; a temporary high to supress the pain. How much of this was nature versus nurture? All of it sounds really unhealthy, but actually there were some infrequent moments in the story where it looked like they could heal each other in their relationship. Could these two people be each other’s saving graces? Saying that, are they together just to escape their own problems? There was even snippets of comedy in this too, for example when uber-masculine Danny metaphorically broke down his personal walls to express his softer, vulnerable and loving side. “The Beast” was a big softie at heart. A candle lit with a fragile flame and a bedside table-lamp was a reminder that a flicker of light does exist in their world living in The Bronx, a borough of the Big Apple.
Verdict: Powerhouse performances and a fascinating story which goes to the depths of darkest human nature.
Reviewer - Sam Lowe
on - 17/1/20
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