Line

If Israel Horovitz’s Line was a British play it would be called ‘Queue’ and it would be polite, orderly and interminably dull. Fortunately, Horovitz’s play is American and Jonathan Carr’s production of it (showing at 41 Monkgate until Saturday) is as brash, violent and funny as the broadest stereotype might suggest. The play’s premise is simple: five people (four men and one woman) form a queue whilst each of them proceeds to try to manipulate themselves into first place. There is not a huge amount more to the plot than that although an audience should perhaps be forewarned that Horovitz is an absurdist playwright (and a friend of Eugene Ionesco) and that the play becomes increasing bizarre throughout, building to a baffling conclusion.

The play’s enduring strength (a quick Google will tell you that Line has been running Off-Off-Broadway for 37 years) lies in its characters. Luckily Carr’s production is blessed with an outstanding cast. The line-up includes Dan Wood as Flemming, a dim-witted, blue-collar baseball fan; Veronica Hare as Molly, a singularly unpleasant harpy; Ryan Lane as Arnall, her meek and pathetic cuckold of a husband; Louis Lunts as Dolan, a smarmy and borderline-psychotic, Patrick Bateman-type business man; and Chris White as the manic yet enigmatic Stephen, an obsessive Mozart fan and the play’s wildest card.

It would impossible to pick a stand out as each brings something different and interesting to the production. Wood is as good when the focus is on him as when it isn’t, turning in a solid and nuanced performance in what could have been a rather one-note role whilst Lunts is fascinatingly vile as he manipulates the rest of the group. Lane is excellent as the whiny and emasculated Arnall, by turns endearing and frustrating, and he exhibits an impressive grasp of the play’s unique blend of comedy and humanity. Hare’s role is arguably the most unpleasant and it is often hard to watch as her Molly summarily seduces and has sex with (represented by a number of short dances) each of the other characters. Her standout moment (generally speaking each character has at least one moment in which they are the focus) is possibly the most bleakly compelling too and she delivers her lines with a chilling venom, eliciting as much despair as dislike from the audience. White as Stephen delivers a bizarre and brilliant performance in the play’s most baffling part. While occasionally a little bit too shouty, particularly in the earlier moments of the play (I couldn’t help but feel that had he toned these down a little, he would have had more of a chance to build throughout the performance, although perhaps this can be put down to first night adrenaline), his performance is energetic, hilarious, frightening and fascinating, equally compelling whether he’s irritatingly insisting on singing the contents of his wallet or threatening to commit murder.

Carr’s staging is also impressive and he manages to maintain a certain degree of naturalism throughout, a wise decision given the absurd and often confusing dialogue.

The play is not entirely without it faults though. Occasionally some of the humour feels rather forced and there is sometimes a sense that Carr and his cast are trying to mine laughs from moments that perhaps would have been more effective had they been left more ambiguous. The lighting is also a bit hit and miss; the use of an extra light coming up each time a new cast member enters is effective however a moment when flashing lights are used to punctuate the action on stage is distracting and feels unnecessary.

These are small niggles however and you would be hard-pressed to argue that the production is not a solid success. Ultimately, Line is frequently unpleasant, occasionally vaguely irritating but never less than compelling. In short, it’s a production that is definitely worth queuing up for.

Upstage Centre Youth Theatre 41 Monkgate

Friday 21st January (7.30pm) Saturday 22nd January (2.30pm and 7.30)

Tickets £9, £5 concessions

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