It was a decade that started with the non-appearance of the millennium bug, then went on to give us 9/11, war in Iraq, the gentrification of the BNP and some wild animals scraping and growling under a rape victim’s flat in Elmslea Crescent.
Or that, at least, is how it goes in this stimulating collection of ten new ten-minute plays. The writers — a mix of new talent and established names such as David Eldridge, April de Angelis and Amy Rosenthal — each take on a year. And though the big events get ticked off, there’s reassuringly little clod-hopping satire — you know, Bush was an idiot and Blair was a smiling devil. The best moments here take a tangent from the headlines.
Granted, I’ve no idea how Nimer Rashed’s story of the rape victim and an amorous neighbour ties in with 2002. It’s intriguing, unusual, yet needs more time to explore and explain its ideas. But Lou Ramsdens’s 2004 manages to weave both the tsunami and Facebook — or “the Facebook”, as our Harvard-student hero and heroine call it — into a sly tale of obsession, superbly played out by Kate McGuinness and Sam Marks.
Richard Marsh’s 2007 sketch successfully mixes Guant?namo Bay with Harry Potter. Fraser Grace makes 2005 the year of the facial transplant. Amy Rosenthal’s Millennium’s Eve party mixes a rom-com frisson with a debate about how much history even the freshest of fresh starts brings with it. Like much of the stuff here it’s a bit crammed in. But the abundance of ideas and the quality of the performing retains the interest. And the collage of Noughties events and icons on the walls is a remarkable effort for a show that’s only on for a week.
Advertisement
The best writing can be the sparest — in 2001, George W. Bush sits alongside a teacher laboriously guiding her kids through a reading exercise before being told by an aide what’s just happened to the World Trade Centre. It’s confident writing, by Beth Steel, because it leaves so much space for the actors. And Phil Brodie excels as Bush, outwardly impassive while inside his mind recoils from the indignity of this quotidian duty. In fact, he excels in several roles among a large cast.
Yes, there’s the odd bit of stilted acting, of on-the-nose writing. Eldridge, arguably the best writer here, turns in the weakest scene, in which a couple are informed of their son’s death in Iraq. The cast work their way through denial, grief and rage, but it plays as borrowed and overearnest.
Is there a theme to this decade? Well, the shadow of terror is cast over everything, from the prospect of worldwide computer collapse to the Muslim at a BNP meeting in Rex Obano’s 2009. But when Decade resorts to agit-prop or clumsy absurdism it doesn’t last long. There are scrappy moments, but they’re outweighed by the amusing and surprising ones.
Box office: 020-7978 7040, to Sat