Dysfunction reigns in this absurdist classic.
Romanian born Eugene Ionesco is regarded as a master of the craft of writing the theatre of the absurd showing the futility and absurdity that is much of human existence. His 1955 play Jack or The Submission is performed by University of Aberdeen student drama group, Centre Stage.
It is a tale of a grotesque family whose disappointing elder son is Jack (Nathan Young). He has retreated from family life and is being berated by all comers, particularly his mother who lists her own questionable behaviour, laying blame for it entirely at Jack’s door. Bizarrely, though he is the source of his family’s ire, they all bear his name - Father Jack (Andrew Raymond), Mother Jack (Hayley Anderson), Grandmother Jack (Megan Cormack) and Grandfather Jack (Duncan Iredale).
In their desperation for him to conform or appear to conform they give him a mantra about loving hash browns, his recitation of which seems to bring about some satisfaction. This level of conformity allows the possibility of Jack being married off. His potential fiancée is the lovely Roberta (Bryony Harrower) brought in by her own equally strange parents with a rope round her waist like a cow to auction and with a bucket on her head.
Jack’s accepting her as a potential spouse depends on the number of noses she possesses and so, with the requisite amount achieved, a cornucopia of crazy word play begins their curious courtship.
The venue at the Space North Bridge is a small one and there is just too big a cast for such a small stage. The production feels cramped and claustrophobic. Duncan Iredale and Megan Cormack played their near silent parts of Grandfather and Grandmother Jack very well as they sat in a dwam at the side of the stage. However, a more imaginative creation of these characters, either by doubling roles or using puppetry, would have freed up space. The entire cast remaining on stage during a later act, albeit hidden behind a line of washing, compounds this.
Part of the theatrical experience is the suspension of disbelief particularly when dealing with the absurd. Perhaps it is an Ionesco-style ploy on the part of the company, or just a result of no one being able to shift accent to a relatively shared one, but the distaff side in this particular dysfunctional family has Scots accents while the males have English ones.
There are some good individual performances particularly from Nathan Young as Jack, Jess Anderson as his sister Jacqueline, and Rachel Donald as Mother Roberta who all stay in character throughout. The rest feels quite tense and eager. The horse scene with Jack and Roberta is well co-ordinated but there is something static about the performance in general that feels like a radio play or like a good rehearsed reading that has still to take that magical leap.
The level of sophistication it takes to successfully stage an Ionesco play was lacking in this brave and ambitious young company.
Show Times
19 – 24 August , 5.05pm
Ticket prices
£7 (£5)