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Back to the age of innocence

Take a room, any kind of room, and twins named Presley and Haley. Now take chocolate, lots of it, and sleeping pills, you are officially entering into the gloomy and dreamlike world of Pitchfork Disney. A play written by the artist Philip Ridley (the author behind the award winning The fastest clock in the universe) which is now staged by director Savannah Whaley.

 

You will discover soon enough that Presley and Haley have been living hiding from reality in a small and tatty flat in East London. The twins deny anything that has to do with the outside world as they live secluded in a nonlife inhabited by the shimmering memories of long lost childhood. The  outside universe is this wasteland of destruction were only the claustrophobic flat stands surviving. The room is a shell protecting against barking dogs, blood, and all the violent explosions of the unknown. The sense of uncomfortable closeness becomes stronger as we enter the twin’s nightmarish world. Christopher Adams who plays Presley, skilfully portrays a childish young boy of no precise age ( we will find out later on he is supposed to be twenty-eight). It is clear to see that unlike his sister, he lives hesitatingly between the outside and the inside world. A change to this fragile balance happens as he lets Cosmo Disney (Robert Williams) enters in their flat. Is the nightmare inside the clotted room full of ragged dolls, or will it be Cosmo creeping into the door and onto their lives? Cosmo Disney makes a living of eating cockroaches, he eats all insects, symbolically devouring the darkness of the earth, while the twins fill themselves in an unsuccessful attempt to reach sugary happiness.

 

 

 

In Cosmo’s bleak philosophy the world is the survival of the sickest, provocatively he claims that what we all need is our daily dose of disgusts, a frightful idea which has been explored by many. You might say that those issues of childhood and cruelty have been raised several times before, and they surely have. However if we ask ourselves why they keep on being so uncomfortable we might find out that the reason lies in not finding a definite answer to them.

 

 

As the play unravels Cosmo is mysteriously entranced by Hailey and sends Presley away using his charm and emotional manipulation over him. He then  attempts to molests Haley (Louisa Hollway). Presley returns and defends his sister violently sending away Cosmo. The twins are left in complete distress and loneliness while the audience is left with uneasy questions such as: the importance of reality, the cruelty of adulthood, the violence of everyday life. Although this was only a rehearsal it left me  (and will probably leave you too) with what is very much a universal wish, the impossible drive to go back to the age of innocence.

 

 


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