Barney Norris has written a private play about household life and the passing of time. “These are my mother and father and grandparents,” he states in his script’s introduction. Writing them, he provides, is “the one means I understand how to like them”.
That love exhibits. As an ode to household, We Began to Sing is stuffed with tenderness. As a play, it feels fragmented and anticlimactic. There may be merely not sufficient plot or battle. Possibly it's too near dwelling; what appears to be lacking is Graham Greene’s “splinter of ice”.
Scenes are infused with affection however there is no such thing as a considerably darker, sharper aspect to his characters. And no matter household tensions there are between them are subsumed by higher heat. That, in the long run, is the issue with this delicately crafted play, which looks as if a sequence of candy or poignant scenes.
Additionally directed by Norris, its tempo is meditative however undramatic regardless of cases that appear virtually to veer in the direction of an alternate actuality – characters freeze or attain out theatrically and atmospheric music raises expectations – however nothing comes of it.
Grandparents Bert (Robin Soans) and Peggy (Barbara Flynn) bear in mind the battle at the beginning and recount how they met. Their musician son, David (David Ricardo-Pearce), often rolls his eyes however his spouse, Fiona (Naomi Petersen) listens raptly. There may be piano enjoying, pink wine and conviviality.
Every scene brings a leap in time: Fiona and David separate, a brand new accomplice comes alongside in Rob (George Taylor), kids develop up, grandparents die. Characters communicate of ageing and mortality however this can't make up for the dearth of story and neither is it significantly profound.
There may be one fractious scene that stands out when David and Fiona, now separated, focus on their son Barney’s unhealthy behaviour. Fiona explodes with resentment and this flashpoint sparks with stress and depth. Extra of that is required however we're rapidly again to placid scenes.
There are various lovely qualities to this manufacturing, however. The visually arresting back-screens that mission household movies (video design is by Megan Lucas). Atmospheric musical interludes that embrace a cello concerto by Elgar organized for the piano, and a rendition of Dido’s Lament by Purcell. A strong scene that exhibits Bert scared and irascible in the direction of the top of his life. Recollections which are proven to be tied to geography – streets and homes that turn into receptacles, perhaps even proof, of previous lives. There may be an acute remark of English manners and emotional repression, too, with a lot tea-drinking and speaking concerning the climate. These exchanges seize all that may’t be mentioned and really feel distinctly English.
Later mentions of Barney, who stays off stage, brings meta moments: Peggy says he's “writing us” and characters go searching, momentarily acutely aware of being inside a play. Bert provides that this drama is about individuals who sit round and certainly one of them dies – which feels apt as a abstract for what we see on stage.
We Began to Sing is on the Arcola, London, till 18 June.
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