Reviews

Strangers on a Train is the thrilling adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, by Craig Warner. Highsmith is well known for her sinister plots and entangled webs, and this is no different. Two strangers (yes on a train) become entangled in a murderous pact which comes to life on stage. From the very opening scene - a glimpse of a solitary traveller, the soundscape of a train - I felt a chill and the sudden appearance of the ever lurking antagonist that made me jump. This one thrills as much as it intrigues. 

As a theatre-maker myself, I was interested in checking out The Butterfly Club’s One Act Play festival, and when I saw that poet James WF Roberts was staging his first theatre show Hot White Kiss, I was keen. As a poet myself, I hadn’t seen James read for some years. But what I did remember from his poetry was that it was dark, sexually charged, politically incorrect, messy and raw – my kind of poetry.

This company has taken a broad range of highly honed physical skills which can more usually be found in company with trapezes and juggling balls and applied them to a series of pressing social and environmental issues. The result is confronting and inspiring.

From the initial steps in the late 1960’s to the modern full version, the path of this challenging musical has slowly evolved to what was performed in Redcliffe.  The play is based on the character of Joseph from the Bible’s Book of Genesis. His father, Jacob, gives him the multi-coloured coat as a show of affection and this pleases Joseph while it upsets his many brothers and things go badly for him from there. From slavery in Egypt to interpreting the dreams of the Pharaoh, the path of redemption finally leads to his reunion with the coat of many colours.