Here is a keen study of isolation, displacement and the way in which small communities are vulnerable to exploitation. It takes place on a nameless island, loosely based on Tristan da Cunha – a British Overseas Territory comprised of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Mill (Jenna Russell) and Bill (Cyril Nri) live small, austere yet contented lives until their nephew, Francis (Archie Madekwe), returns to the island filled with stories about the big world outside and his excited plans to connect this island to it.
Director Jennifer Tang’s revival of Zinnie Harris’s play captures both the timeless quality to the island and its seclusion. The play is set in 1961 but Mill and Bill look like rustics who could be living in any bygone century. It is only when Francis returns with a wealthy, besuited South African capitalist (Gerald Kyd), who proposes to build a factory on the island, that we see signs of the modern world.
The story takes us from a volcanic eruption to mass evacuation and the forced exile of its islanders. It is an example of colonial conquest in miniature, which chimes with the real-life plight of the indigenous population on the Chagos Islands. There are further plotlines that reveal the island’s own murky secrets and a troubled past romance between Francis and the unhappily pregnant Rebecca (Kirsty Rider).
The performances are solid and the islanders’ naivety and bewilderment towards the outside world are well enacted. But the play takes time to build its intrigues, the pace is occasionally ponderous and the dialogue repetitious. Even if this is deliberate, it keeps us too much at surface level at times, and although the strands come together in the end, the play feels drawn out.
The atmospheric in-the-round design by Soutra Gilmour and the dramatic lighting by Prema Mehta compensate for this. Storms are evoked through thunderous sound by George Dennis and the island’s black sands are a glimmering projection by Ian William Galloway. It has strains of Thomas Hardy’s doom-filled landscapes but a breathtaking, watery beauty too.
At the Young Vic, London, until 29 April
