Tim Firth's reworking of Neville's Island as a female foursome on a work's outward bound team-building expedition in the Lake District is lacklustre writing at best sadly. What should have been highly comedic and suspenseful, was tepid at very best. Director Colin Connor gave his everything to this play to make it work as well as it did, including staging the play extremely intimately in a very small thrust-stage environment. The uneven floor cleverly representing the shoreline of a small island and the four cast covered in rain, mud, and goodness knows what else, brought the realism of their situation into vivid colour. It was a brave piece of directing and acting, with four extremely noteworthy performances from the four actresses involved. (sadly without a programme I am unable to credit them).The set design, as already intimated, was original, and innovative, a floor of hessian sacks, bumps, material, shells, and wood chippings, although the tree which is climbed several times looked just about as far removed from a tree as possible sadly, and that part of the set did not work at all sadly. Sound and lighting were both good and some well chosen scene-change music helped heighten any comedic situations or add to the dramatic tension. The four actresses all have their individual characters and play them to the hilt. They make a good ensemble cast too, supporting each other well. The tensions were built nicely, and the dynamics both within the group and their individual characters were well placed and nicely executed. It is the script itself which somehow lacks veritas and probability.
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