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Perve - New Stagers


Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending the dress performance of New Stagers' production of Perve, which I had been looking forward to since I saw they were rehearsing.

The play has a name and a premise that often catches people unawares. In fact, whenever I told anyone I was going to watch Perve, the reply was always "what?!" Which is sort of the point. Often discussed by focal character Gethin within the play, we instantly recoil from the title, our natural preference to act with disdain towards a name without any proof of it. Perve doesn't let you act in this way.

Director Mark Stannett with Assistant Director Sian Ashworth have done well to set the tone of rumours and hidden secrets from the get go with two hoodies scrawling 'pervert' and 'get out' across the pristine white backdrop that then remains for the duration of the play, a constant reminder of the negativity surrounding the allegations that begin to take over Gethin's life. The hoodies then carry out the scene changes on the simple set when they occur, continuing the feeling that there are big secrets somewhere, that you as an audience member are having something kept from you.

This feeling is mainly what made watching Perve so wonderfully frustrating. Throughout the play, the audience is drip fed little snippets of information but never quite given enough to answer the questions they have. And I was left filled with questions. One thing the friend I watched the play with and I discussed at length on the journey home was whether Gethin was wholly innocent or not. Lloyd Smith portraying Gethin kept us guessing, seemingly approaching his project inquisitively but managing to bring something increasingly odd to his performance. He did very well to leave some mystery in the things his character didn't say, further drawing us into the story and the intrigue. Particularly at the end of the play (when you finally get some of those answers you crave), Smith, along with Pat Dee as Nick, delivered a powerful performance with a remarkably realist argument. They managed to keep the pace incredibly fast yet remained clear in their speech. However, although the thrust playing area allowed the audience a very intimate interaction with the action, it meant this scene required a lot of 'back acting'. My suggestion to make this scene as gripping as it could be would be to think about how the same emotion can be shown through the body physically as is present in the voice, even when an actor is facing the back of the stage.

Adding to the complex web is Gethin's mum Lorraine well played by Orna Joseph. Joseph seemed to embody 'mother' and there was a moment you really felt for her, until certain revelations made you rethink every caring word she'd uttered. Joanna Dodd as Authority was very good at controlling the tone and pace of the interviews. She dominated the scenes, with good repetitive tone driving the action forward, and she can evidently judge attitude of her character well. I found Mathilda Childs as Sarah very interesting to watch, especially as I often found the language of the character a little too childish for her age. However, Childs managed to pull this off as insolence as opposed to immaturity, meaning the audience didn't discredit her as a child. Christine Pierson and Stephanie Kendrick as Taylor's Mum and Layla respectively worked well as the voices of doubt with Kendrick's emotional monologue a personal highlight (perhaps because she was looking directly into my face due my seat position), reminding the audience of the victims and muddying the water further on how you feel as an audience member towards Gethin.

The climax of the play was gripping with the use of the rest of the cast as some kind of collective conscience not too overpowering as I initially worried it may be. Speaking with Mark Stannett before the show, he told me he couldn't find evidence the play had been performed since its premiere in 2011, something I find a bit of a crime. It seems an immensely difficult show to do justice, which possibly explains why other companies may have shied away from it, but New Stagers have created something incredibly thought provoking and thrilling. I am so glad I got the chance to see their production, and I think everyone else should take that chance too.

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