Plastic Figurines – Liverpool Playhouse Studio – 08/04/2015

I’m going to stick my neck out here and suggest that Ella Carmen Greenhill’s new play, which premiered in Liverpool last night, is not a play about autism – it’s a play about people. More specifically it’s about that way that a brother and sister, each facing their own individual challenges, deal with the impact of the loss of their mother. It’s a play about grief and bereavement; love, pain and hope.

And it is beautiful.

We keep fixing back on a thoughtful Rose in “the present” in the inauspicious surroundings of a hospital waiting area, and her memories trigger successive scenes in flashback. We are then introduced to her brother Mikey on his 18th birthday. I’m not going to destroy anyone’s enjoyment by telling you too much detail, but it’s important to note that the narrative pulls back and forth through time.

The evolution of the work from a 15 minute short to this full length one-act play, commissioned by Box of Tricks Theatre, has clearly involved a tremendous amount of research and character development, as well as the construction of the fractured timeline.

The result is a pair of finely drawn characters who have been brought vividly to life in two astonishing performances from Remmie Milner and Jamie Samuel.

Mikey has autism but, refreshingly, this is played as one (albeit very significant) aspect of his personality, and it is his personality that is key. Great care has been taken to ensure that what we see on stage is a young man, not a condition. It’s clear that in his background work Jamie Samuel has assembled a host of possible mannerisms and has then thrown most of them away, so that he uses the subtlest ways of delivering Mikey’s difficulties. This subtlety enables the more emotionally charged scenes to become all the more impactful. A good example is where what begins as a very funny scene with a chocolate bar quickly evolves into something of terrifying power.

Jamie Samuels’ performance is so mesmerising that you do sometimes have to make a conscious effort to turn attention to Remmie Milner’s Rose, the level headed and mature big sister who has given up her new life to look after her little brother. This too is a beautifully crafted performance, and again the gentle delivery of most of her part throws some of the pivotal moments into sharp contrast.

As the piece reaches its dramatic climax we are left with an open ended future for Mikey and Rose. Writer, director and cast remain tight-lipped over their personal ideas of their ultimate fate, but I left the theatre with a tentative optimism. More importantly, they are characters that I found myself really caring about.

Ella Greenhill’s moving text feels completely natural and the flow of the narrative, while fragmented, is clear and concise and Adam Quayle’s direction has a wonderful lightness of touch. The set by Katie Scott has an elegant simplicity that enables it to carry us back and forth in time and place with the aid of clever lighting from Richard Owen, while Chris James’ splendidly subtle sound design  provides clarity to the settings.

I last saw Remmie Milner in the main house here in Melody Loses Her Mojo and Jamie Samuel in Jumpers for Goalposts at the Bush (see my earlier postings) and I have also seen some of Ella Greenhill’s previous writing, so I had high expectations for this piece. So much so that I bought seats for two consecutive performances and am returning again this evening. I wasn’t disappointed and may well need to buy another …

Adam Quayle told me that half a director’s job is done if they can find a great writer and great actors, and based on this principle he was on to a winner with this. The writing is insightful, delicate and real, and Remmie Milner and Jamie Samuel give flawless performances that are impossible not to be drawn into.

And the Plastic Figurines? – Buy a ticket and find out…

Plastic Figurines plays at the Playhouse Studio until Saturday, after which it embarks on a national tour visiting 14 additional venues until 16th May, and if there’s justice in the world it will have a life beyond this. For venues and dates, see Box of Tricks’ website:

http://boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk/production/plastic-figurines/

View the rehearsal video diary on YouTube Here

Remmie Milner and Jamie Samuel "It'd be like I was flying".

Remmie Milner and Jamie Samuel in rehearsal - Photo (c) Lucas Smith