Kindness

Kindness is a kind of absurdist, pretty ridiculous and at times hilarious look at the down side of the effects of the modern working environment.

In this slick production, on a smart and stylish set by Yvette Turnbull, that feels like an office foyer, four individuals come and go and interact or barely interact through talking to/at each other.    Throughout they all seem to exposing hang-ups, quirks and fixations in a bland environment where everything even their wacky ticks of behavior become monotonous. 

There is the boss who is cold and disinterested, the strange very old unwashed woman who quietly creeps in and out and the co-workers who finally hook up.  Generally interaction appears restrained and pretty much hit-and-miss and has the musicality of an almost agitating repetitive rhythm.  

Nothing is fully explained, for example what positions the workers have or what they are doing.  People come and go and hook into fairly meaningless conversations and then exit.  One assumes that all characters except the old woman do actually do a day’s turn of work.

And why the old woman is there at all? Perhaps she is homeless and creeps in for warmth and safety and comfort.

None of the characters are particularly likable.  They all seem to have dropped any guise of being personable and cheerful.  And they are all pretty much glibly expressing their pent up neuroses in the ‘liminal space’ of the office foyer.  They are mostly niggling and evasive in their communication and too caught up in themselves to be interested in each other.  

A clear clean work generally that did suffer from some garbled dialogue on the first night but one that is bound to grow in meaning, depth and expressiveness through its run, for what is guaranteed to be an appreciative audience.

Suzanne Sandow

Images: Rachel Perks & Tom Heath, and Emily Tomlins, Maggie Brown, Rachel Perks & Tom Heath (photographer: Sarah Walker)

Credits

Designer: Yvette Turnbull.

Lighting Designer: Sarah Walker.

Sound Designer: Andrew Dalziell.

Cast:  Maggie Brown, Tom Heath, Emily Tomlins, Rachel Perks

Footnote:  There seems to be a fairly contemporary new style in programs that lists actors as performers without indication of exactly which character they play.  This can be frustrating for those of us who are writing about Theatre.   I have not discussed the work of individual actors on this occasion due to the lack of listing.