Tapping into the Zeitgeist is always a very dangerous route to take: it can result in cliché or a sickly over-trendiness, and certainly a play about a gay wedding ceremony, with reference to reality TV and David Cameron, walks a thin tightrope of freshness over a gaping gulf of banality. However, thankfully these risks are neatly sidestepped in this excellent new piece of drama.
Undoubtedly one of the stage highlights of Trinity, Uncivil Partnership is the première of a new work by Caroline Bird, acclaimed playwright, published poet and St. Catz student, depicting one afternoon in the organisational saga of the civil partnership of lax liberal Kate (Constance Barnwell) and wonderfully odious Marion (Madeleine Dodd): lesbian lovers, yet political and social opposites.
The writing does not disappoint in its perceptive humour which teeters between snort-out-loud funny and a few glitteringly dark observations. The criss-crossing of conversation, inner monologue, and fourth-wall transcendence starts out confusing but quickly settles into a highly original routine. Bird’s self conscious authorial presence is refreshing; it is deliciously ironic to have your preconceived ideas and expectations of what will happen played upon by an omniscient playwright.
A visiting string quartet provide brilliant and diverse supporting roles, popping out a lovely bit of Haydn every now and then and adeptly managing to concentrate on their acting performance without hindering musicality. If this isn’t enough, there will be a harpist as well.
As the stage full of females becomes more and more intense, and the play’s lone possessor of a Y chromosome does well to stamp his mark. Ralph is a first-class swine, and injects the drama with much needed energy after it begins to lag slightly in the run up to the end of act one.
The scope of the play is impressively wide, commenting on love and sex, social norms, class, art, feminism and politics, yet leads me to worry about whether the play is focussed enough. References to Blondie and Goldie Hawn combine with allusions to Wagner opera; the decaying marriage ceremony is counteracted by the relationship problems of each member of the quartet. Bird squeezes so much into the short two hours that, whilst one does get a lot out of it, it is very hard to know exactly what she wants audience members to go away with.
Thankfully, however, this does not hamper the enjoyment of a wonderfully inventive and well acted play confirming Bird’s credentials as something a bit special.
Four Stars
