THEATRE REVIEW: 180° Chord - The King's Arms, Salford.

 

'180° Chord' is a new play written by Chris Leicester, and is a rather thriller-esque / Noir story of two convicts in a maximum security prison. The first, Connor (Vincent Fox) is a nasty piece of work, and despite his protestations to the contrary, oozes evil from his every pour. There is a riot, the inmates have found out that a rogue policeman is in their prison, and they want blood. John, (Paul Findlay), the ex-detective sergeant with a squeaky-clean record and an indefatigable desire to see the rotten rot behind bars, has killed his own wife, and is now, through some administrative mix-up, in amongst those he put away. He is currently being hidden and protected by Connor.   

The story is tense, but very wordy. The premise is tenuous, but we buy into it. The development of the plot however is somewhat predictable, and the ending (an 'epilogue') long and unnecessary. What should have been an edgy, suspenseful thriller, was, in this production at least, rather pedestrian, long-winded, and slow moving. This was not helped sadly by Findlay's internalising almost every speech. The King's Arms is a small, Fringe theatre, with only five rows of audience, and yet, he was so quiet that even on the third row, I lost at least 50% of his speeches. This was further compounded by the poor directing. The stage at The King's Arms is on floor level and the audience therefore are seated on the same level as the actors, and yet huge chunks of this play were delivered with either or bo9th cast members squatting on their haunches, seating on the floor or lying down. Once I was not able to see the actor, especially their face, I stopped engaging with the piece and lost audibility too. 

The play was non-linear and flitted back and forth, and yet the stage set remained constant and it was very difficult to ignore since the lighting did not accommodate different scenes or areas sufficiently. The play is ostensibly set in Manchester (Strangeways?), and yet both Fox and Findlay's accents were not consistent. Fox had Brummie undertones which were more prominent at certain times, whilst Findlay mixed his Manchester with London throughout.

This could have been a real nail-biter of a show having the audience on the edges of their seats, it has that potential, but sadly it wasn't.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 2.3.24