Killing Time, Feb 12 2000

by Richard Stockwell

Young Roy at Chapel off Chapel until February 27, 2000

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Killing Time. If you place the emphasis on the first word it means one thing. If it is on the second the whole meaning alters. This is the intention of English playwright, Richard Stockwell, in his clever thriller of the same name.

The layers keep peeling away as the action advances in Killing Time. The two characters, Rick (Stephen Hayden) and Jane, (Teresa Duke) initially appear simply to be involved in an afternoon seduction. Slowly, the story becomes more complex and the onion layers more numerous as the two reveal one murky secret after another.

The play begins at Rick's rented furnished apartment. He accepted a lift home from Jane after he 'rescued' her at the check-out in the supermarket when she is caught without her wallet.

Rick reveals little until his temper flares. He is dangerous, she is fascinated, or perhaps just bored or angry with her husband and ready to punish him with an affair with some 'rough trade'.

The tension is relentless in Stockwell's script. It smacks of 40's film noir: the rich vamp with a rough husband accused of murdering his mistress meets a rough trade ex-convict masquerading as a corporate executive. Bacall and Bogart could play it with panache.

This competent production, directed by Hayden and Marco Lawrence, is interesting but such a classic murder mystery should be compelling.

The stage craves a more subtle design, atmospheric soundscape and deep shadows thrown against the walls to provide a brooding, secretive tone. There is simply too much light and too little atmosphere on stage.

Hayden plays the attractive but oafish Rick with a roughhouse charm and Duke is credible as the bored, rich wife. The two actors find something of the thriller in the performance but the space is never genuinely dangerous, even when some very violent action takes place.

Stockwell's writing is rhythmic, dramatic and well crafted as a mystery. They need to let go the reins and play the style to give the piece its dynamic range.

by Kate Herbert