Liminal Spaces: Interchange Review
Who knew that talking about trains for two hours could be interesting? Interchange is a Mermaids play written and directed by Pluto Conway, and its probing exploration of real social issues had me hooked from the start.
A railway crew deliberate on both future and past as their employment is threatened by the transition from steam trains to diesel. The railway is the perfect symbol for this transitionary period in which both technology and social attitudes are changing. The characters challenge misconceptions about gender, sexuality, and mental health, but it always comes neatly back to their love (or hatred) of the railway. There were a couple of instances of unnatural line delivery, and some actors who seemed perhaps a little hesitant to embrace the emotions of their role, but overall, this was swept away with the force of the play as a whole.
The ridiculously insensitive station master Edison (played by Patrick Bouch) was, in my view, the play's most impressive performance. Bouch stops things from getting too heavy, never failing to get a laugh out of the audience as he comes on and off stage, spitting cookie crumbs all over his employees as he delivers unwanted motivational speeches about advancement. I did wonder if his standout performance was a result of his comparatively more emphatic role, but a spluttering, finger-pointing, face-reddening telling-off of one of his employees really sealed the deal for me.
This was my first time in the Barron Theatre, and Interchange was the perfect play to introduce me to the space. The crew took full advantage of its small size, as the use of the aisle and the crackly 50s music in the interval made the play feel immersive from the outset. If the captivated faces of the audience are any indication, this did exactly what it was supposed to do.
The intimate space and the simple set up made the emotional outbursts we are treated to in the second act even more exciting. One of my favourites was a rapid scene change that allowed Hawley (played by Elliot Reed) to storm out of the main station, stomp around the audience, and come down the aisle yelling at Edison in his office. Another impressive moment came with the moving interaction between Hawley and Marie (played by Caro Trenor De Azcarate), where a spotlight follows them off stage as they double over in the aisle and comfort one another. The only unfortunate aspect of this choice was that anyone who wasn't in the aisle couldn't actually see the characters, but the convincingly distraught voices still had great effect.
These outbursts were the most important part of the play, a catharsis for the bottled-up emotions of the male characters, and of the men in postwar society at large. Adam (played by Jack Dams) really shone when his character broke free of pretense with a monologue about his relationship with Victor and his grief at his passing. While I think these scenes worked so well because they were in contrast with the slower pace of the first act, it perhaps left the first part of the play feeling less memorable than what follows. But this may not be a bad thing – I have been mentally replaying the argument between Hawley and Edison in the days since I saw it.
In a play so focused on disrupting gender norms, it is perhaps worth considering how this was handled. I was amazed to find that the omnipresence of this theme did not feel jarring – it didn't force modern ideas on the play anachronistically. Instead, the social issues in the play worked like the railroad, impacting every element of the story but never being stated too matter-of-factly. I think that Interchange found the perfect spot between preaching and subtlety, resulting in something that was both memorable and moving.
One of the ways the play does this is when Violet (played by Eilidh Read) who works in the ticket office stands up for women's capacity to work hard by citing the women who took over traditionally male jobs during the war. She tries to catch a cookie in her hat directly afterwards, so when she misses (something she could have gotten away with otherwise – I am the last person to judge!), it is rather unfortunate timing. I also appreciated the details that Hawley pulled Violet into a cupboard to tell her about his homosexuality, and that James (played by Lucy Clark), the flag-bearer of traditional values, has a penchant for baking. The message seems to be summed up by Cyril's (played by Robbie Ganfer) heartwarming lines about Hawley and his relationship with Victor: that aligning with convention doesn't matter as long as you are happy.
Interchange is a play that stays on the mind for days after because of some excellent performances, staging, and its exploration of difficult themes that remain relevant today. While deeply reflective, this play taps into love, laughter, and grief in a way that kept the audience engaged and left me with a wholesome feeling to warm me on my winter walk home.
Comments