By Peter Maddern
For 2019’s edition of Henry Naylor’s work, again held in the Dining Room of Gilded Balloon’s HQ, Naylor returns to the desert or at least a work themed from there. On Valentine’s Day this year the press reported that an ISIS bride had decided she wanted to return to England, a right enshrined in law to her as a UK citizen but otherwise a proposition many would find abhorrent.
Carter (Caitlin Thorburn) is a reporter at The Times who is sent to Leeds by her pressing editor to get a reaction from Kane (Henry Naylor), a former soldier in Syria who has recently been cleared of war crime charges. What starts out as the search for a seemingly obvious marriage of viewpoints gets lost as the realities of both characters get revealed and start to cloud the path.
Thorburn does an excellent job – ripe for her character and more than capable of not only sustaining her at times lengthy monologues but also her push back and counters to the force conveyed in Kane’s character. I have not previously seen Naylor on stage and it may well be he was chosen for his imposing physique, one not necessarily easily found at Central casting. In that dimension he fits the bill for if I felt intimidated by his performance and presence in Row 7, goodness knows how he must have come across for those along the front.
Notwithstanding, the two players combine well, the development of their views credible and balanced.
Another powerful work from Henry Naylor.
Kryztoff Rating. 4K
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