News/Events
links to press about revelation
12/07/08
stacey daly as dionne in revelation 2008
we also have two new dates at chapter-
30th and 31st july 8pm
www.chapter.org
Theatre
Revelation
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Elisabeth Mahoney
Thursday July 10, 2008
The Guardian
Patrick Jones's new play was never going to make for comfortable viewing. Confronting the taboo topic of domestic violence against men - based on interviews with 40 straight and gay men, and Jones's own experience of an abusive relationship - this is raw, angry theatre. There is one moment in particular of shocking violence, but mostly Jones portrays the reality of living under ceaseless, unfathomable emotional cruelty, interspersed with physical trauma.
Article continues
Revelation does not begin bleakly, though the discordant opening hum of the music by the Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield hints at trouble ahead. Steve (Nathan Sussex), living rough, is invited home by Dionne (Stacey Daly), and despite worrying asides - Dionne refers to being left by men looking for "another victim" - life is good. After the birth of their son, however, which seems to trigger memories of her own sexual abuse, Dionne turns abuser, sinking into a world in which she berates, belittles and beats Steve. This slip into dysfunction and brutality, with its endless arguments and sudden physical punishments, is horribly convincing. Both performances are terrifically affecting, especially Daly in an extremely challenging role.
There is, however, a tendency towards heaviness in Jones's writing. Some lines are overwritten and he tends to tell us things ("that's what abuse does to you") that should be shown dramatically instead. However, the play is well worth seeing for its clear-eyed, powerful depiction of domestic abuse that remains hidden behind closed doors.
Box office: 029-2030 4400.
link to preview of revelation in metro.....................
http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/article.html?in_article_id=207914&in_page_id=224&in_a_source=
Passionate, poetic and intense
Revelation
Patrick Jones
Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff
July 10, 2008
The play opens with a deeply felt cry of anguish and frustration from Steve, the man at the centre of this sad human tale. Technically this is an extraordinary feat for an actor to achieve at this early stage in a play, before the audience has settled into the mood of the piece without an embarrassed titter being raised, but it is a mark of Nathan Sussex’s near genius as an actor that he grabs our attention and immediately we are feeling a real sympathy for him that continues and intensifies as the drama progresses.
Again from writer Patrick Jones we have a highly passionate, poetic and intense work of art; a plea for the infrequently heard case of abused men. Steve’s doctor prescribed anti depressants and the police ignored him.
Things look really good as events begin. Steve is living on the streets, a Big Issue seller. He’s a decent enough young man with a touch of the romantic and an enthusiastic interest in the stars that form a twinkling roof over his head. Dionne played by Stacey Daly who matches Sussex in her strength of acting that increases in intensity and bitterness as their relationship develops, if that is quite the right word. She visits Steve late at night bringing him a flask of hot soup, something she has been doing for some time. She has taken a liking to him, she’s a lonely girl. She asks him if he would like to move into her spare room.
They very quickly become a couple and a child is born. They may not be very well off but they seem perfectly happy and enjoy each other’s company. Steve’s a bit preoccupied with his telescope but he is a good father and a responsible partner. Things quickly sour and she creates a rift between them.
In an earlier play, Absents, Jones explores an equally tragic situation where a mother totally denies her former husband access to his child. In that play his protagonists are clearly drawn as black and white: a didactic plea demonstrating the tragedy of the father position. Steve and Dionne are more rounded humans; both vulnerable people wanting to give and to be loved.
Chris Durnall’s direction and the music of James Dean Bradfield provide excellent atmosphere and both anticipate and follow the break down of the relationship as Dionne’s behaviour moves from hard face slapping to complete mental and physical abuse, kicking and cutting at Steve’s limp body until he has had enough and leaves.
But we keep asking why? There is no apparent reason for the woman’s behaviour. Life is ticking over nicely for this warm hearted family and we are given no rationale for Dionne’s rages. From time to time Steve talks directly to the audience expressing his puzzlement and anguish at his partner’s excesses. Maybe Dionne could have done the same and we could have learnt more of what was going on in her mind. She was clearly helpless and unable to control her criminal acts. There were times when he relented, she asks Steve to return to the family home. For a while they seem to be making a go of things but it is as if she has only called her man back so that she can reassert her evil ways upon him.
The play makes a strong case for the tragedy of abuse in scorching detail. Much of the dialogue is natural and colloquial but often Jones’ poetry comes through as Steve puzzles and reflects on his desperate situation.
“Shut the door, put out the light, dream of yesterday, keep everything out of sight. First the silence, the atrophic acts of attention seeking then the questions, the foul mouthed bile of power and control a web of word, dead flies caught. My home a cage I cannot escape.”
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan