Atlantis
Emily White
Directed by Guy Jones
Minerva Theatre. Chichester
Star rating: 3
This is a difficult show to review fairly because, on the one hand, I enjoyed it. I’ve been a sucker for family sagas (mostly in novels) since my teens and Atlantis presents four generations across thirty years facing the reality of climate change. The characterisation is strong, the acting fine and there are plenty of things here to connect with. It held my attention which is a lot more than many new plays do. It’s very watchable and often theatrically interesting. On the other hand it’s also full of flaws of which more shortly.
Based loosely on the real-life plight of Fairbourne in north Wales, the play presents a village which will soon be washed away by the sea. The council has decided to spend no more on sea defences and homeowners will not be compensated. Enter the family of Gwen (Vivien Parry) and Bryn (Richard Elfyn) who live in a very ordinary bungalow with their daughter Claire (Catrin Aaron) and her two young children. It’s 2011. All the signs are there – sooner or later they will have to leave. Gwen is a passionate activist (lots of Greenham Common history) and a charismatic teller of folk tales which entrance the children. Bryn is an angry fisherman who says he will never leave and worries constantly that his beloved wife will get herself into serious trouble.
Gradually the years roll by and the children grow up. The dates are projected onto the back wall behind Frankie Bradshaw’s realistic family living room set. Finally it’s 2039. There have been changes in the family dynamic but still there are still no solutions to the environmental challenges which Gwen, and later her journalist granddaughter Rhiannon (Eirlys Lovell-Jones – very good in her stage debut), have long tried to bring to public attention.
It’s a play which is unashamedly about climate change. It’s quite powerful and poignant in the way it expresses the frustration which many people feel. It isn’t an issue, the argument goes, which can simply be ignored. It won’t go away. And, as Emily White’s plot shows it can, and will, have devasting effects on the lives of ordinary people.
And yet Atlantis doesn’t really say anything new. The message is repetitively hammered home. And there are far too many digressions.
I actually cried in the second half, deeply moved by Bryn’s dementia – something of which I, and probably many other audience members, have close personal experience so I identified. It’s well enough done but it distracts from what is really going on.
Then there are the loose ends. If we’re going to hear about the relationship which provided Claire with her two children, then we need to know what happened to him – not just be thrown tantalising hints. Either tell the story or don’t. How did Bryn get his education? He is extraordinarily articulate and knows things like the names of dozens of chesses, every town on the UK coastline and a lot more. Strong as Elfyn is in the role, the character isn’t quite plausible. And what has sneering at vegetarian food got to do with anything? And the debate about whether it’s appropriate in these times to go in producint children feels as though it belongs in a different play.
Straying into these side alleys means that Atlantis is too long for what it sets out to do.
Full marks though to lighting and video designer, Joshua Pharo and Composer and sound designer Holly Khan who between them conjure up some pretty terrifying weather. The songs don’t add much, however.
This show is a co-production with Theatr Clwyd, a company with which Chichester Festival Theatre has strong links for historical reasons. It had a short run there last month.
