BWW Reviews: FIVE PROPERTIES OF CHAINMALE Explores On Male Narcissism With Humor and Recognizable Situations

Wednesday 29th April 2015, The Stables, Kings Cross

Nicholas Hope's FIVE PROPERTIES OF CHAINMALE touches on five aspects of male narcissism in this 60 minute compilation. With each scene having a distinctively different location and characters, the three male actors (Alan Lovell, Dominic McDonald and Jeremy Waters) take on various roles from characters to the subject character's internal dialogue. The sole female, Briony Williams moves smoothly between the various roles from defined characters to scene fillers.

Tom Bannerman and Thomas A Rivard's set starts with a bed in front of a wall of black severe shapes and mirrors. As the stories change, the complexity of the set, adorned with white words such as 'unashamed', 'authentic', 'fractured' and 'obsolescent', becomes clear as parts move to define new spaces, with a more than a little imagination required from the audience. Apart from the first scene where the scantily clad couple are joined by two men giving the appearance of old world psychiatrists observing the action, Zora Milevski's costumes are simple and allow for the changes to occur onstage as other action is occurring, distracting the audience view.

Whilst the 4 actors move through the action and dialogue that jumps from first person to third person reflections and interaction between characters at a frantic pace, the brevity of the scenes and the changes between the characters, sometimes voiced by multiple actors, adds confusion and reduces the ability to explore the issues Hope wants to bring to the fore. Some scenes, such as the man that has a standing arrangement to meet his mistress in hotel rooms across the city, with disappointing results, show the narcissist nature to better effect. For other scenes, the purposes are less clear.

For some of the storylines, there are knowing laughs from the audience as traits they see in themselves or people they know are recognized. The physical humor and creativity in developing simple special effects to prompt the audience imagination of a storm are well executed.

Whilst being a somewhat confusing work, FIVE PROPERTIES OF CHAINMALE still has recognizable elements and a degree of humor to keep the audience engaged.

FIVE PROPERTIES OF CHAINMALE

Griffin Theatre Company

SBW Stables

10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross

15 April - 9 May 2015

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