Hasan Dixon and Katie Elin-Salt in Black Mountain. Photo: Jonathan Keenan Black Mountain
Roundabout @Summerhall
12/8 /17
4 Stars
Brad Birches play is a psychological thriller set in a remote cottage, in which Paul and Rebecca are trying to mend their broken relationship. They set certain rules regarding honesty and fairness, but is the woman outside the cottage really the next door neighbour, or Helen, who Paul had an affair with.
Entering a smoke filled auditorium, the tension builds as the play progresses. Who is controlling who? Loyalties shift as Rebecca, a wonderfully chilled performance from Katie Elin-Salt, giving little away except anger, exposes Paul's betrayal. Hasan Dixon is defensive and vulnerable, especially with Sally Messham as Helen.
The fourth character, betrayal, is in the tense lighting and sound. Black Mountain is another strong production from Paines Plough. The dialogue whips along in this well acted production.
BLACK MOUNTAIN TICKETS
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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