The Bleeding Tree - Southwark Playhouse Borough Little
Jun 20, 2024 16:46:47 GMT
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joem and Dave B like this
Post by Steve on Jun 20, 2024 16:46:47 GMT
The atmosphere of this one is through the roof brilliant.
Some spoilers follow. . .
What this production lacks in drama (it's more aftermath than happening), it more than makes up for in atmospherics, language and terrific acting.
Its like an arty, yet visceral, emotive and horrific, version of one of those theme park rides that transport you precisely to a time and place, here an arid lonely outback Australia where a man has been abusing his wife, while his children look on. She has killed him, and now we simmer in hot red dirt, riding an atmosphere of loneliness, aridness, decay and death for an hour as the killer wife and her two kids cope with the cocktail of relief, horror and fear of potential repercussions.
The acting is incredible. You've got the world's most emotional vessel in Mariah Gale (nobody but nobody summons rivers of tears the way she can) as the killer wife, numb, guilt-ridden, fearful, in a dream state. And she's supported by two mesmerising performances from Elizabeth Dulau and Alexandra Jensen as her daughters, the former locked in tentative fear for what will happen next, the latter buzzing with electric wonder at the newness of everything that is happening for the first time.
Gale's killer mum can remember a time when her husband promised something more than endless abuse, so there is a strange dreamy numbness and wistful sadness to everything she does.
This show does everything horror does best (making human beings feel like nothing but rotting meat) despite the lack of actual incident for much of the running time. The language is riveting regarding the decay of the corpse and the women's visceral reactions to it.
This hour long piece is a total trip, to an Australia that is dark, weird, emotive, bloody, lonely, strange and familiar all at once. 4 and a half stars from me. :0
Some spoilers follow. . .
What this production lacks in drama (it's more aftermath than happening), it more than makes up for in atmospherics, language and terrific acting.
Its like an arty, yet visceral, emotive and horrific, version of one of those theme park rides that transport you precisely to a time and place, here an arid lonely outback Australia where a man has been abusing his wife, while his children look on. She has killed him, and now we simmer in hot red dirt, riding an atmosphere of loneliness, aridness, decay and death for an hour as the killer wife and her two kids cope with the cocktail of relief, horror and fear of potential repercussions.
The acting is incredible. You've got the world's most emotional vessel in Mariah Gale (nobody but nobody summons rivers of tears the way she can) as the killer wife, numb, guilt-ridden, fearful, in a dream state. And she's supported by two mesmerising performances from Elizabeth Dulau and Alexandra Jensen as her daughters, the former locked in tentative fear for what will happen next, the latter buzzing with electric wonder at the newness of everything that is happening for the first time.
Gale's killer mum can remember a time when her husband promised something more than endless abuse, so there is a strange dreamy numbness and wistful sadness to everything she does.
This show does everything horror does best (making human beings feel like nothing but rotting meat) despite the lack of actual incident for much of the running time. The language is riveting regarding the decay of the corpse and the women's visceral reactions to it.
This hour long piece is a total trip, to an Australia that is dark, weird, emotive, bloody, lonely, strange and familiar all at once. 4 and a half stars from me. :0
