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In the true tradition of Black Ram, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me was a production that inspired thought and introspection from the outset.
The audience entered to find cast members Ross McGregor and Russell J Turner draped languidly across the stage, cigarette smoke curling into the air above them. The expectant audience's eyes were immediately drawn to the manacles clasped around the actor's feet, and it was here that the air of expectation began to build. The opening of McGuiness' play masterfully plays to this expectation and curiosity, gradually revealing the facts over the course of the first act.
The play focuses on the experiences of Adam, an American; Edward, an Irishman; and Michael, an Englishman while they are imprisoned together in a cell in Lebanon. As the play unfolds, we are made privy to the story of each man and their private methods of dealing with the miseries of imprisonment and warding of depression and insanity.
At times, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me was highly emotional, but this poignancy was unfortunately dispelled by both the seemingly endless speeches and the unfortunate use of music; Ella Fitzgerald's "Someone To Watch Over Me" may have tied in with the title, and Edward's love of it may have provided an insight into his character, but the tone of the song was positively upbeat when compared to that of the production and simply chased away any remnants of empathy I may have been feeling. Complaining about the length of the speeches may make me sound like something of a philistine, but I am acutely aware what the playwright was striving to achieve with them and similarly aware that I have sat through plays that lasted as long or longer and barely noticed the time slipping away. Despite this, something about the production simply didn't drag me close enough to the edge of my seat for me to truly justify the length of time spent in the auditorium.
The actors themselves were what truly carried the play along for me and if it were not for their outstanding performances, this review would likely be much more harsh.
Hannah Bunting
Sudbury Upper School
30th April 2010
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