A radio voiceover from Richard III opens and closes the play; interesting. A very well-furnished set (Craig Lomas) shows the studio of Mr Lupine (Lee Bainbridge). The artist stands in front of a blank canvas on his easel surrounded by a bureau, desk, radio and wheel-back kitchen chair. He ignores two knocks at his door, then 19-year-old Wesley (Jack Stokes) enters having returned home from World War 2. He desperately needs a job to support his widowed mother and three sisters and applies to the local portrait painter for a vacant apprenticeship.
The shy, reserved Wesley is obviously suffering from shellshock, and, while delighted, he secures the job; it entails much more than he bargained for. Wesley encounters another kind of madness inside the artist’s studio which threatens to push him to destruction as he discovers the ulterior motives behind the artist’s palette. While Wesley has suffered the dreadful experience of war, Lupine feels deprived from not being involved, having polio and therefore denied the glory. He also feels real art comes from darkness, of which Wesley has experience and he has not. He taunts the boy mercilessly.
The untrained, award-winning, 20-year-old Stokes gives a wonderfully sensitive, poignant performance, displaying a wide range of emotions. This contrasts well with Bainbridge’s well-delivered, pedantic, abstruse, ambiguous character, a game of cat and mouse that Mr Lupine relishes. He plies Wesley with several unwelcome brandies, which seem strangely to have little effect on the young, slim man. The claustrophobic set is the ideal setting for the intense exchanges that take place. A real character-driven drama, beautifully played and with an almost unexpected outcome.
The award-winning writer Stokes, who has sold-out productions worldwide, also directed the play. His staging is excellent in such a cramped area, using the space to every advantage. Having such a solid, well-written, layered script, sound cast and good production team all points to an excellent show, which this is.
This certainly has an unusual storyline, leaving you wondering where it is going. Tantalising, with some black humour, yet dark, a beguiling 70 minutes.