Pastoral, Soho Theatre - theatre review

Thomas Eccleshare's debut play confirms that the writer has an interestingly offbeat sensibility. Steve Marmion's production feels like a cross between Jerusalem and 28 Days Later
P93 Pastoral ©ALASTAIR MUIR
22 May 2013

"I saw a vole earlier," says a bemused young man a few minutes into Thomas Eccleshare's darkly funny play. "Coming out of Paperchase. It was strutting." It's a line typical of the absurdity that pervades this odd and original vision of ecological meltdown.

Pastoral arrives in London after a short run at Suffolk’s High Tide Festival, and its star is Anna Calder-Marshall. She plays Moll, an elderly eccentric who has been urged to evacuate her flat to escape the rapidly encroaching wildlife. She’s given to scathing judgements — not least about the wobbling flesh of the people she can see from her window. Later she attempts several times to crack a blue joke about a hen party. She seems a relic of a more robust age.

Neighbours take refuge with Moll, and among them is 11-year-old Arthur (played by Polly Frame). He’s a grating presence, reeling off questions while others fret about looters and roaming bears. The gravest threat appears to be the madly proliferating foliage. As Michael Vale’s set disintegrates, vegetation sprouts from the gaps, and at one point flowers attached to darts are fired down on to the stage.

In Steve Marmion's production, Pastoral feels like a cross between Jerusalem and 28 Days Later, and Calder-Marshall is excellent, savouring the play’s lyricism. Yet there is some unevenness, and not all Eccleshare’s humour hits home. He has been hailed as an arresting new voice, which is not quite accurate, since he has previously done a lot of work on devised pieces with his company Dancing Brick. But Pastoral confirms that he has an interestingly offbeat sensibility.

Until June 8 (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)

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