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Review from 2002 Edinburgh
Fringe
Iron
Playwright - Rona Munro
Director - Roxanne Silbert
Designer - Anthony MacIlwaine
Associate/costume designer - Alex Eales
Lighting Designer - Chahine Yavroyan
Sound Designer - Matt MacKenzie
Assistant Director - Robert Evans
Company - Traverse Theatre Company Cast
Run Details of Revival of this production
at Royal Court London 22 Jan - 1 March 2003
Drams none
Seen to review at Venue Traverse Theatre (15)
Address Cambridge St off Lothian Road
Reviewer Jackie Fletcher
Scotland can be justifiably proud of its playwrights and performers, and
it is timely here to lament the passing earlier this year of John McGrath.
Nonetheless, McGrath leaves behind him a wealth of talent and skill, not
least in the work of Rona Munro. It is apt, therefore, that the Traverse
should kick off its 2002 Festival season with Munroe’s new play.
It is also encouraging to know that a writer gaining considerable international
renown for her film scripts (her work on the German film Aimee and Jaguar
was superb) should still find time to write for the Scottish stage. Munro’s
forte is the unpredictability of her dialogue. Iron has virtually no plot.
Its compelling power lies in a series of revelationary dialogues between
two women. In this sense it is fraught with suspense.
Fay is serving a life sentence for murdering her husband. Abandoned by
family and friends, she has faced her guilt and loss alone in an ambience
of brutality. After fifteen years she finally receives a visit from her
daughter, now twenty-five, successful in her career, but failed in marriage.What
can these to women expect from each other?
Munro takes her time at a leisurely pace during the first act to establish
the difficulties inherent on this growing relationship, and in particular
its impact on the mother. Fay has never spoken of the occurrences leading
up to her crime. The daughter, Josie, whose childhood memories have been
erased by the trauma, suspects that her mother was an abused wife. During
the second act a tale unfolds of deep and intimate love, a mutual passion
so intense that it precipitates alcohol-fuelled rows and emotional wounds.
This isn’t a who-dunnit, but a why-dunnit. Many academics have commented
that it is impossible to write tragedy in our modern age, but Fay is a
tragic heroine of profound dimensions. Munro has a remarkable ability
to engage us with the human capacity for empathy, not only between the
mother and daughter, but also in the two prison guards, and especially
in Fay’s complex relationship with the female guard, a single-mother abandoned
by her husband.
This is a play of considerable richness and humanity. And accolades must
be given to actress Sandy McDade for her portrayal of Fay’s instability
and strengths through a performance of consummate physicality.
© Jackie Fletcher 3 August 2002 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
The Playscript for Iron is published by Nick Hern Books and is
available from the Traverse Theatre (at special price) and at good book
shops.
Cast -
Sandy McDade - Fay.
Louise Ludgate - Josie.
Ged McKenna - Guard 1.
Helen Lomax - Guard 2.
IRON at Royal
Court Theatre Downstairs website
(well worth a visit!)
Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AS. Nearest Tube: Sloane Square.
A Traverse Theatre Production with the original cast.
Dates - Previews 22 January, Opens 27 January 2003 No performances
Sundays.
Closes 1 March 2003.
Times - Mon to Sat at 7:30pm Mats Sats at 3:30pm.
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