PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Nocturnal

Nocturnal
The Gate, Notting Hill

The Gate brings a gem of Spain’s modern playwright scene to the stage for its UK premiere.

In a play that deliberately keeps you guessing, Nocturnal capably manages to establish the initial dynamic between the two male protagonists and immediately draws the audience into their convoluted dilemma. Paul Hunter plays ‘Short Man’ superbly, unnervingly interrogating ‘Tall Man’ played by Justin Salinger. This scene alone exemplifies the strength of Mayorga’s writing– the essence of which David Johnston has undoubtedly recaptured in translation– inferring the play’s principal themes concerning anonymity, envy, discrimination and the capacity for people from different backgrounds to co-exist in a single society.

All credit must be given to the collaborative efforts of director Lyndsey Turner and set designer Hannah Clark for presenting a production, which maximises the intimacy of the venue as well as the characters’ conscious and unconscious integration. This is rendered to great effect in the scenes where the stage is split into a view of the two apartments, with the characters obliviously moving in and out of each other’s personal spaces. Is this simply a symbolic device mirroring the unconscious interaction of one person’s life with another, or an attempt to reflect the dialectic relationship between distinct parts of society? Either way, visually it proves extremely effective and adds a further shade of humour and irony to the protagonists’ portrayal.

Another rather innovative visual aspect is the production’s use of animation and film. Matt Walker succeeds primarily in skilfully incorporating realistic animation, which adds to the production, rather than detracting from the dialogue itself. At first, the quirky film shorts that appear between each scene may seem slightly bizarre and after the show, Mayorga commented to me that he had not originally conceived the film as short intervals between each scene. Yet both he, and I, feel that Turner’s idea really works on stage: not only does it provide some light relief for the audience, but it also helps maintain the fluidity of this satire which presents an insightful observation of the human psyche and human relationships.

Ruth Collins