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The River – review The River – review
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I spy a danger for the theatre in a new form of chic exclusivity. Because everyone wants to see Jez Butterworth's first new play since Jerusalem and because space is limited at the Theatre Upstairs, tickets are hard to come by. You either have to go online or queue at the box office first thing. Although that may preclude potential customers, Butterworth's play undeniably gains from intimacy. At 80 minutes, it is strange, eerie, tense and, on a single viewing, slightly unfathomable.I spy a danger for the theatre in a new form of chic exclusivity. Because everyone wants to see Jez Butterworth's first new play since Jerusalem and because space is limited at the Theatre Upstairs, tickets are hard to come by. You either have to go online or queue at the box office first thing. Although that may preclude potential customers, Butterworth's play undeniably gains from intimacy. At 80 minutes, it is strange, eerie, tense and, on a single viewing, slightly unfathomable.
At first, all looks reasonably clear. As in previous Butterworth plays such as The Night Heron and The Winterling, the setting is rurally remote. We are in a wooden cabin on the cliffs above a river. It belongs to The Man (Dominic West) who is playing host to The Woman (Miranda Raison). The West figure is a dedicated fisherman who goes into ecstasies about sea trout, which can be caught in profusion on a moonless night once a year. This is just such a night and the capacity to share his excitement becomes a moral test for Raison's character, who appears to be his new girlfriend.At first, all looks reasonably clear. As in previous Butterworth plays such as The Night Heron and The Winterling, the setting is rurally remote. We are in a wooden cabin on the cliffs above a river. It belongs to The Man (Dominic West) who is playing host to The Woman (Miranda Raison). The West figure is a dedicated fisherman who goes into ecstasies about sea trout, which can be caught in profusion on a moonless night once a year. This is just such a night and the capacity to share his excitement becomes a moral test for Raison's character, who appears to be his new girlfriend.
So far, so explicable. But the second scene starts with West making a panic-stricken phone call to the police about a woman who has gone missing during a nocturnal fishing expedition. At which point the door bangs, to West's relief the call is aborted and in walks not the expected guest but The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly). She angers West by revealing she has broken the rules by catching a sea trout with the aid of a young poacher who has attached a pickled onion to the rod. Unlike the more spiritual Woman, this character is friskily down to earth and the scene ends with West gutting the trout in readiness for supper. So far, so explicable. But the second scene starts with West making a panic-stricken phone call to the police about a woman who has gone missing during a nocturnal fishing expedition. At which point the door bangs, to West's relief the call is aborted and in walks not the expected guest but The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly). She angers West by revealing she has broken the rules by catching a sea trout with the aid of a young poacher who has attached a pickled onion flavour Monster Munch to the rod. Unlike the more spiritual Woman, this character is friskily down to earth and the scene ends with West gutting the trout in readiness for supper.
If I give away this much plot, and there is plenty more to come, it is to try to pin down what Butterworth is writing about. Since the two women exchange places scene by scene, and there are strong hints they are part of a long line, it appears we are watching some annual ritual. West's character is a reclusive loner who invites each new woman to share his passion for trout fishing, declares his love for them but, inevitably disappointed, seeks to memorialise them through a drawing. Far from being a hymn to nature, the play is about the rooted solitude of a man who has subordinated his love for people to the more arcane pursuit of sea trout.If I give away this much plot, and there is plenty more to come, it is to try to pin down what Butterworth is writing about. Since the two women exchange places scene by scene, and there are strong hints they are part of a long line, it appears we are watching some annual ritual. West's character is a reclusive loner who invites each new woman to share his passion for trout fishing, declares his love for them but, inevitably disappointed, seeks to memorialise them through a drawing. Far from being a hymn to nature, the play is about the rooted solitude of a man who has subordinated his love for people to the more arcane pursuit of sea trout.
"Death," Turgenev wrote, "is like a fisherman" who nets a fish, watches it swimming about and snatches it out in his own good time. And Butterworth is writing about a man who invests all his emotions in that godlike activity. But the fascination of his play is that it leaves one unsure whether one is watching a ghost story, gothic thriller or parable. My only cavil is that Butterworth sometimes lapses into passages of "fine writing". At one point The Man has a long speech about catching his first fish in which lines such as "just then a big chapel of cloud pushed overhead" have a self-consciously literary quality."Death," Turgenev wrote, "is like a fisherman" who nets a fish, watches it swimming about and snatches it out in his own good time. And Butterworth is writing about a man who invests all his emotions in that godlike activity. But the fascination of his play is that it leaves one unsure whether one is watching a ghost story, gothic thriller or parable. My only cavil is that Butterworth sometimes lapses into passages of "fine writing". At one point The Man has a long speech about catching his first fish in which lines such as "just then a big chapel of cloud pushed overhead" have a self-consciously literary quality.
But the play kept me on tenterhooks and Ian Rickson's production is finely calibrated. The acting is also impeccable. West proves not only expert at gutting fish but also has an air of rugged masculinity that conceals a profound sadness, insecurity and sense of loss. The two women are also perfectly contrasted. Raison has the sharp, probing intensity that befits a character who brings To the Lighthouse with her on a fishing holiday, while Donnelly is more skittish, flirty and lighter in texture.But the play kept me on tenterhooks and Ian Rickson's production is finely calibrated. The acting is also impeccable. West proves not only expert at gutting fish but also has an air of rugged masculinity that conceals a profound sadness, insecurity and sense of loss. The two women are also perfectly contrasted. Raison has the sharp, probing intensity that befits a character who brings To the Lighthouse with her on a fishing holiday, while Donnelly is more skittish, flirty and lighter in texture.
This is not, in the end, as resonant and public a play as Jerusalem. But it adopts a similarly equivocal attitude to its hero, is endlessly mysterious and confirms that Butterworth possesses a singular talent. I only wish that more people could get in to see it.This is not, in the end, as resonant and public a play as Jerusalem. But it adopts a similarly equivocal attitude to its hero, is endlessly mysterious and confirms that Butterworth possesses a singular talent. I only wish that more people could get in to see it.
• This article was amended on 30 October 2012 to correct a description of the bait used to catch a trout. It was not a pickled onion, but a pickled onion flavour Monster Munch.