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| Joanna Richards - Raoul Craemer - PJ Williams |
By Louis
Gomez Romero and Desmond Manderson.
Directed by Caroline Stacey – Production Design by Imogen Keen
Sound design by James
Tighe Lighting Design by Antony Hateley - Movement – Zsuzsi Soboslay
The Street
Theatre, 18th – 25th June.
Premiere
performance on 18th June reviewed by Bill Stephens.
Originally
slated to premiere in August 2021, but delayed because of the Covid pandemic, “Twenty
Minutes with the Devil” has finally premiered in a brilliantly realised production
of operatic proportions in which the setting, lighting and sound design are as
integral to its success as the actors.
Inspired by
the capture of Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, El Chapo, the play takes
place in a seedy motel room where two traffic officers are holding prisoner a
filth-covered suspect until more appropriate authorities arrive. The prisoner
describes himself as “a humble businessman with a knack for success and no time
for weakness”, but neither officer is fooled by this description.
It is only
later in the play when the prisoner reveals himself as the much sought-after
drug baron, El Ticho, that all three are forced to examine their own integrity
and motives. While El Ticho attempts to
play the officers against each other while bargaining for his release, the
officers begin to realise that they are in as much danger from their own
authorities as they are from El Ticho’s supporters.
Caroline
Stacey has produced a marvellously entertaining production, tightly directed
and impressively detailed. She’s taken full advantage of the skills of her
collaborating creatives to include some dazzling special effects.
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| PJ Williams - Raoul Craemer - Joanna Richards. |
Imogen Keen’s run-down motel setting is a masterpiece of grottiness with its peeling paintwork, mismatched furniture and suspect linen. It is also full of surprises. Faces appear in the walls, as do bullet holes. Grids in the floor allow in creepy lighting effects and smoke haze.
Antony
Hateley’s lighting design is equally
brilliant with its suspended faces outlined in sharply focussed lighting, all
enhanced by the terrific atmospheric sound design of James Tighe which creates
another world outside the claustrophobic motel room housing the three
protagonists. .
She’s also
extracted excellent performances from her three actors. PJ Williams is
perfectly cast as El Ticho, oozing quiet menace as he manipulates the
insecurities of his captors in search of any opportunity to escape their
clutches.
Raoul Craemer
flirts with slapstick to create an entirely believable characterisation of a
terrified survivor without scruples who’s willing to abandon any loyalties, rules
or regulations that prevent him from escaping his present predicament, and
exercising the only power at his command by inflicting mindless cruelty on his
defenceless captive while his superior officer is absent.
As Angela Guzman, the senior of the two captors, Joanna Richards gives a strong performance, constantly pulling rank in futile attempts to cope with the defiant insubordination of her weaselling off-sider while becoming increasingly aware of the hopelessness of her situation.
Joanna Richards as Angela Bassols Guzman
Although the play addresses serious topics and situations, stylistic variations in the dialogue and presentation make it difficult to decide how seriously it is meant to be taken.
For
instance, though the script offers an unconvincing explanation, the audience is
left to wonder about the ethnicity of Lieutenant Guzman for much of the play,
and her recovery from an almost catatonic breakdown at one stage seemed remarkably
quick. The behaviour of the officers in front of their prisoner was often surprisingly
cavalier as was their handling of their weapons.
The play
makes much use of voice-overs, internal dialogues and direct address to the
audience as the characters argue to justify various stances. While well
managed, these poetic soliloquies tend to interrupt the flow of the storyline by
breaking the tension. Similarly the spectacular cliff-hanger which ends the
first act is so climactic that the first night audience appeared confused as to
whether the play had finished at that point.
But despite
these reservations, or perhaps because of them, this production provides such a
captivating and imaginative theatrical experience that you’ll kick yourself if
you miss it.
Images by Creswick Collective
This review also appears in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au
