Cancer Time

By Gene - 11th Sep 2004

Described in the programme as ‘two girls killing time.... waiting for something to happen’ Gary Owen’s play certainly lived up to its promise. But, alas, not in the way you would expect. The premise of Cancer Time seemed to be a profiling of two young girls in a call centre who would break the monotony of call centre life by going outside and having philosophical debates on sex, war, sexuality, families and friendship – to name but a few. This ‘over-egging’ of a one-hour play left me feeling “what is this play actually about?”

The design by Paul Burgess was inspiring and well presented; creating a prison within a prison, he used lights and solid set to establish an isolated existence that sat within a barred prison-like oppressed working environment. As Iola (Tonya Smith) and Marad (Karen Paullada) made their first entrances you could feel their sense of claustrophobia and entrapment. These images were visually apparent and physically played with energetic and creative lighting to add to the overall execution of a somewhat disjointed play.

The director, Alex Clifton, effectively kept the action going, moving the two girls around a very tight space and making use of all the levels, but it did feel like the director was trying to move something along with a visual energy rather than an emotional or issue based one.

I must say that the two actors in Cancer Time did an excellent job on a script that seemed, for me, to take them no where and which, it seems, came from the same place. After a slightly shaky start both Smith and Paullada really seemed to fight onstage in a dynamic and mature way. Their silent moment with the opening gold envelope containing an invitation to a funeral was an acting high point of the production. I believe it was down to the pair of them ‘living in the moment’ of this section, thus lifting the scene into something beautiful and heartbreaking. As foil and rapier to each other Tonya Smith and Karen Paullada confidently used this very tight space to great affect never flinching when faced with an audience who almost shared the space with them. This amazing space that is the Theatre 503 would daunt many a seasoned actor, but the two of them showed talent and an awareness of actor-audience relationship that belied their seemingly young years.

The play, on the whole, seems to be trying to say something huge about our world and the affect this has on the over-active minds of unworldly girls trapped in a soulless job that affords them no external stimulation, or, it is a play about two girls meeting in this soulless job who find a way to get on with each other through external tragedy. Whichever it is – it may be neither – the sum of its parts does not create a whole.

To conclude, the direction, design and acting was imaginative, thoughtful and energetic that worked in spite of this ‘mixed messaged’ play not because of it. The whole production team need to be applauded for executing a production that is worth seeing. I left talking about the play, not wondering what number bus I was going to get. If it makes me talk about it because of skilful direction, excellent design and memorable acting, then I have had a good night out at the theatre, and, in the end, that is what I signed up to do. I very much look forward to the next production at Theatre 503 at the Latchmere Pub.

Gene David Kirk