Hypothermia

Where: Stephen Joseph Theatre - Scarborough February 19th 2010
Director: Vanessa Brooks
Writer: Vanessa Brooks
Cast: Full Body and Voice Theatre

The third piece of theatre that I was to view in the round was one that I had been informed about by friends who had heard that it was quite good and had read reviews of past productions on the tour stating that it was well worth watching, so at £6 a ticket we would had to have been stupid to pass up on the opportunity. Especially considering it was only in Scarborough for two nights!

Upon walking into the auditorium one could see the set sat waiting. It appeared to be cold and clinical and was cast in a small amount of blue light. This was coupled with eerie music to give a wintry and cold atmosphere to the auditorium in order to set the tone for the rest of the performance.

The story follows the plight of, a doctor, a secretary, a patient with Downs Syndrome, a Nazi SS officer and a Fuhrer following Mother as they slowly realise the effects of Hitlers rule upon the country. As we move through the play we realise that Hitler is killing of those who Eric, the doctor is taking care of and as Katsch, the Nazi officer progresses throughout the play he does his best to try and rid the hospital for the terminally ill of its patients by sending them to a larger 'health institute' where they are starved and incinerated. Once the doctor finds out about this he is prompted by his secretary Lisa to do something. She screams at him "Now that you know, what will you do?!"

It is here that the first act ends and we make the transition to the rather more tense second act in which the actors are slightly more frantic and erratic with their characters to give this air of hurriedness as they struggle against Katsch whilst he tries to rid the hospital of its patients, including Oskar, the Downs Syndrome patient of whom Eric and Lisa are extremely fond. In the end Oskar is given the choice to either kill himself or to kill Lisa. A decision which has the whole of the audience perched on the end of their seats waiting with baited breath.

In all the production itself was extremely proffessional and very well thought out. It was obvious that the director had thought about what she wanted and had directed accordingly to actors who were willing to listen and do as she asked. Eric and Katsch, two of the three main male parts, were extremely talented and quite energetic in their delivery. However, at times I do feel that some subtlety would have been nice as a rather large portion of their speech was shouted. Oskar, played by Ben Langford - an actor with Downs Syndrome, gave me something I had never experienced before. The chance to see a disabled person in a cast. I have to say that his performance was quite delightful and that he was extremely confident and managed to remain rather playful within his character. His lack of speech on stage meant that at parts he was extremely subtle which contrasted with his shouting when he repeated what people were saying. All in all a formidable actor. Lisa was convincing and strong with a lot of interesting dialogue and some extremely weighted acting. The part comes into it's own in the second act and the actress took care of this effortlessly it seemed. Finally, Frau Poppendick was extremely good and reminded me of a character I had seen on television both in face and voice. Whilst doing some strange things on stage (such as screaming "maaaaaaaaah" when Eric was talking to her) the character was well developed and perfectly beleivable.

On the whole this performance was very much enjoyable and as it was placed in the round, it was rather intimate yet powerful. The characters and storyline were well developed and disbelief was suspended throughout! A success for Vanessa and her cast.