Deftly scripted, finely crafted production

Fiona Ramsay. Picture: Supplied

Fiona Ramsay. Picture: Supplied

Published Aug 25, 2015

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THE IMAGINED LAND

DIRECTOR: Malcolm Purkey

CAST: Nat Ramabulana, Janna Ramos-Violante and Fiona Ramsay

Set and lighting design: Denis Hutchinson

Costumes and props: Joanna Glanville

VENUE: Sandton’s Auto & General Theatre on the Square

UNTIL: September 12

RATING: ****

 

The play’s the thing, said Shakespeare, and while the context is different here, it certainly holds true in Higginson’s Imagined Land.

He is a “writerly” playwright in the best sense of the word as he juggles many ideas and issues, throws them up into the air, but does so in a language that constantly catches your ear and allows you to tune into this particular way of manipulating the writing.

It’s about the words, their meaning and how people use them and twist them around to suit their purposes.

“Your argument doesn’t fit reality,” or words to that effect is how Ramos-Violante’s Bronwyn accuses lover Edward (Ramabulana) when he tries to piece together a certain aspect of her relationship with her mother (Ramsay) to fit his theory.

It is about writing about the lives of others, and the right to represent people if you’re not exactly part of the place or that time. Writers in ivory towers who never get their hands dirty is one of the accusations Edward flings at Emily, an author who inspired him to turn to a literary life but who now becomes the target of his wrath.

It’s about relationships and how they are shaped, how one suggestion can prick someone into action and send him spiralling down a path that could splinter lives into a thousand little pieces.

It’s about memory and how we remember things. All of these come into play in this work that doesn’t necessarily provide any answers but sends you scuttling to many places in your head. Many of the topics addressed during the course of the story unravel and sometimes unhinge a few characters and the way they thought their lives would proceed. And if your issues are unresolved, this might have an impact on how you view the world from an often jaundiced view.

The cast works brilliantly with Ramsay and Ramos-Violante in their third successive production (a second as mother/daughter). Ramsay nails her successful author who disintegrates as she recovers from a brain op and turns to the thing that makes her breathe – writing. Ramabulana storms in with all Edward’s anger in tow. At times it felt as if he was coming on too strongly, too emphatic with every word, but then, he plays drunk for probably the most dramatic scene. He should perhaps watch the shading, especially with Ramos-Violante’s realistic approach to her character who is the voice of reason in what becomes an almost diabolical dance among this trio.

She is the one who listens and learns and finds her truth in what she feels is right. It’s not conjecture or anger turning her head, but a cool temperament of someone who has from a young age had to decide for herself and make up her own mind.

All of this is beautifully framed by a dazzling Hutchinson set which is showcased quite spectacularly by the lighting. It is underlined with a wonderfully bookish, almost fairytale ending, carefully crafted by director Purkey.

The content needs you searching for meaning about the time and place we live in where many of the questions and answers aren’t easy or obvious. Perhaps that’s exactly the point. It’s never clear cut. Like when reading a book, there are different interpretations – even to a life.

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