The Hush. The Shed at the National Theatre, London. July 2013.
In London for the weekend and with open return train tickets what were Rebecca and I to do but squeeze a fourth play into our brief holiday...
Even we admitted that we didn't think we had the stamina for a full length play - although Amen Corner looked very tempting - so we decided to try the new temporary venue and a 55 minute play. The free drink was also welcome on a warm afternoon!
The Hush isn't getting great reviews from either the press or other bloggers but I enjoyed it a lot, and the more I think about it the more happy I am that I saw it. It is a simple play with just two speaking characters, one male and one female.
The characters enter a room called The Hush, the man is recreating noise for a scene (but you never really know if he is writing a play or recreating a memory) and the woman is listening to recordings created by her (dead?) father.
The stars of the show are the Foley editors. On a balcony above the set are two people creating the majority of the sound effects in the play - from showering to turning over in bed.
I found it very clever and with no script the impact of noise became very clear and when a cold wind was played I did get goose bumps and I now have immense respect for those who create all of the sound effects for radio plays.
There was no real story and through the use of sounds the audience is left to create a narrative, I can see that some would find this pretentious but for me the chance to try something so different was a treat and I am glad that we went.
The Shed - a temporary stage while the Cottesloe Theatre is being renovated to relaunch as the Dorfman
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