Double Feature 2

A National Theater presentation of a double-bill of "Nightwatchman" by Prasanna Puwanarajah directed by Polly Findlay and "There Is A War" by Tom Basden directed by Lyndsey Turner.Abirami - Stephanie StreetAnne - Phoebe FoxThe idea of scale dominates the second of the National Theater's double-bills of new plays by emerging writers. While Prasanna Puwanarajah conjures a world via fierce single character monologue "Nightwatchman," Tom Basden's "There Is A War" uses 29 named characters in pursuit of an idea. Although neither is an unequivocal success, both show distinctive potential. Face-to-watch Phoebe Fox, who made a splash in a more comic role in Anya Reiss's "The Acid Test" at the Royal Court, is Anne, the serious center of Basden's surreal black comedy about a ridiculous war between the unknowable Blues and Greys. The politics and/or reasoning behind the conflict is never discussed. Instead, Basden places the increasingly desperate Anne amid a mad gallery of self-serving characters - soldiers, torturers, a chaplain, a photographer, military top brass, scavengers, a clown, a dance teacher - to present the lunacy of war. Using "Alice-in-Wonderland"-like upside-down logic, he pushes Anne through ten often amusing scenes in which the absurdity of behavior is made manifest. There's mordant wit on display as people ruthlessly pursue agendas without bothering to listen to anyone else. The Monty Python-esque tone, however, becomes wearying. Aside from the first and last scenes of exposition and denouement, the intervening scenes can be played in any order: Every scene features the naive character arriving at a new location, suffering misfortune and then moving on none the wiser. Without development, tension evaporates. The increasingly daft posturing underlines the futility of war and is deftly directed by Lyndsey Turner on Soutra Gilmour's traverse stage, which packs a surprise with the reveal of Anne's longed-for hospital, a scene given added solidity by James Farncombe's atmospheric lighting. By contrast, "Nightwatchman" is more distilled. Puwanarajah's monologue features Stephanie Street as Abirami, a female cricketer about to make her debut at Lords, the most revered English cricket ground. If that weren't pressure enough, she wearyingly points out: "You try being The Only Brown Girl In Salford Who Plays Cricket." She's a British-born Sri Lankan woman, and the team she's playing against is from, yes, Sri Lanka. Following the idea that the game is "all about the batting," the playwright puts her on the receiving end of a bowling machine fiercely lobbing balls, which we only "see" courtesy of Carolyn Downing's spot-on sound design, vividly conjuring the thwack of bat on ball and, amusingly, the crashes of objects being hit. The bowling machine determines Abirami's ever more contentious mood. She's hitting out literally and metaphorically against the conflicting circumstances that the occasion has brought to a head. This allows Puwanarajah to discuss cultural identity and familial and political responsibilities towards a homeland removed by a generation. Director Polly Findlay's production is crisply paced and Street is wholly convincing as a sportswoman and as someone rising to emotional meltdown. But Puwanarajah's play strains to reach its reconciliation between Abirami and her unseen father (the nightwatchman of the title), whose opposing arguments she has to explain to the audience. For all the lucidity of the analysis, the play doesn't lift from intelligent monologue into engaging drama.Sets and costumes, Soutra Gilmour; lighting, James Farncombe; sound, Carolyn Downing; music, Ben Castle and Matthew Herbert; production stage manager, David Marsland. Opened, reviewed Aug. 4, 2011. Running time: 2 HOURS, 30 MIN. "Nightwatchman" "There Is A War"With Tom Basden, Oliver Birch, Kirsty Bushell, Trevor Cooper, Claire-Louise Cordwell, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Karina Fernandez, Richard Goulding, Trystan Gravelle, Richard Hope, Nitin Kundra, Matthew Needham, Damian O'Hare. Contact David Benedict at benedictdavid@mac.com