'Wound', the latest in the Philip Ridley series of World Premiere monologues under the banner title "The Beast Will Rise" was streamed live this evening, this time with Mirren Mack and once again under the direction of Wiebke Green.
Mack was astoundingly good here, playing a neurotic, perhaps even deranged, young lady who, perhaps has a medication dependency, perhaps hallucinates, perhaps has a split-personality disorder. Perhaps anything... it is never truly made clear, but what we are certain of is that she is not "normal" and yet her fantasy and her storytelling are beautiful in their grotesqueness. Mack has a way of drawing you into her weird world, and you stay there, suspended, wanting more, without truly understanding, but she has you in the palm of her hand, and it's exciting. The lines between fantasy and reality are continually blurred, but you don't care, you just want her to keep on relating her story to you.. one moment as calm and as cool as a cucumber, sane and serene, and the next yelling and angry and shouting at you about dinosaurs and unicorns!, and yet her mood swings are all a part of her 'charm'. This 20 minute monologue is a true rollercoaster ride of emotion not just for her, but for the viewer too.
Mack proves to be an outstanding actress, and Green's direction here is as tight as it has ever been, using close-up shots throughout, it's like a manic Big Brother version of Talking Heads on speed, but you still can't look away!
Ridley is in fine form here too with a great text, cleverly written, gripping and grounded. Best one yet!
You can watch all of the world premiere monologues in this series on the company's website - here - https://www.wearetramp.com/
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 2/5/20
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