Sycamore Grove
They’re the aspirational modern power couples of suburbia, charming friends on the outside but competitive with each other although they would never admit anything so gauche, and in fact Charlotte and Colin are willing, perhaps excited to offer to include Ben and Hannah in the little secret which has allowed them to prosper, timely with Ben going for that new job and Hannah balking at the volume of work needed to redecorate their new house.
It’s not much, just a few symbols and signs from some old books, the correct words spoken to manipulate the universe in their favour; it worked so well for them that they converted their attic into a space dedicated to those rituals carried out for centuries, no harm done to anyone. Ben lured by the promise, he participates and is rewarded with the job, but Hannah questions whether he won the position on his own merit, if her husband’s actions are foolish, perhaps even dangerous.
Performed by Cara Watson, Conor O’Dwyer, Rebecca Wilkie and Nicholas Alban, their blithely smiling faces soon turning sinister and then increasingly distraught, the move to Sycamore Grove opens the door on a suburban horror written by Daniel Williams and directed with simplicity enhanced with only a few tricks of stagecraft by Liam Rees, the four actors sharing a darkened space which they never leave, those who are not in a scene always present, observing the others, looking for weakness and waiting for an opportunity to take advantage.
Like any addict, Ben knows Hannah is right in what she says but he can’t give up the power be he has acquired, believing it gives him too much, emotional in the face of her rational position, the sceptic who ask why if Charlotte can have anything she doesn’t have the baby she craves, seeing her doubt as a betrayal of their marriage promises of trust and support even as the number of red-painted symbols on the back wall increases with every scene change, their hold over the feuding couple amplifying as their ability to resist diminishes.
Sycamore Grove continues at the Bedlam until Sunday 11th August
