Review: Writers make big impact with two short plays at Rugby Theatre

A few years ago I got a table seat on one part of a trip to Lincolnshire and was soon joined by three individuals who were all happy to chat, up to a point.

One of our group was unwilling to reveal her occupation, inevitably sparking my journalistic curiosity.

We were both changing trains at Nottingham and on the platform she said she had been too embarrassed to tell the group that she… played the role of Agnetha in an Abba tribute band.

That wasn’t an option I’d come up with - but I was taken back to that moment with the second play in the double-header launching a Rugby Theatre initiative to present new plays by new writers.

As a fan of new work and the blank canvas of the stage presented as a black box, this was a night not be missed – two plays by different writers on very different subjects, all contained within 90 minutes, including an interval.

Having started with the second of the pair, I’ll return there first to describe how if you put the word ‘strangers’ in front of the actual title, you’ll get an idea of why I was prompted to think about that past journey of my own.

With the same goodly mixture of personalities you can expect – or dread – on any railway journey, writer Wendy Goulstone didn’t opt for Abba but came up with a rich variety of back stories that challenged how we are quick to judge and not consider the potential that there may be more to a person’s story than meets the eye.

All was revealed in breakout scenes by the different characters, while the rest of the scene was frozen. They told of miscarriage, surgery, abuse, shoplifting – and more.

That’s a lot to cover well in about 40 minutes but the cast conjured a warmth in each instance that stopped it feeling clichéd.

And credit too, to those who conjured up several personalities on that short Avanti trip from Rugby to Birmingham New Street, the action being held together with perhaps the most diligent steward ever, played by Natalie Clements.

So praise to Rosie Fuller, Jill Dwyer, Nick Marsh and Jonathan Pollard whose rapid changes offered distinction in the stories but also weaved in some humour to balance the secret agonies – and let’s also recognise that the other three passengers were played by three actors taking to the stage for the first time, to add to that spirit of invention.

Jill Dwyer had a busy evening, having played the lead role of a widow in the opening play, a three-hander by Nick Marsh that raised questions galore about survival in wartime and then the adjustment to a postwar life.

In this instance we were transported to a bleak East Germany of the 1960s and the return of Uncle Eric, a prisoner of war long thought to be dead.

Ashley Hirons played Eric with an awkward, gruff manner you could expect from someone cut off from the world and his surviving family for so long, then being thrown into confronting the horrific explanation of why the niece so keen to meet him was not the daughter of his late brother.

His initial resistance was broken down by the appearance of Isabella Meede as Hannahlore and an optimistic sense of love conquering even the toughest scenarios, brought this compelling piece to a close.

So in reverse order there you have it – a positive start for what one trusts will become a regular part of the Rugby Theatre calendar and a huge boost to the arts scene in the area.

Black Box doesn’t mean a stage without props or full production crew involved - and short plays clearly don’t mean writers cannot create rich pictures that stay with you.

And at a fiver a ticket this was a great new way to showcase new work – keep an eye out for the next Black Box event and also track what comes next from the imagination of the launch writers.