Clarkston production image. Photo by Marc BrennerBy means of fast changing lighting states, the scenes blitz through key signposts like Jake’s limited life expectancy due to a diagnosis of the neurodegenerative disease Huntington’s. We learn of his wish to emulate a distant relative’s historical western exploration as he reads extensive passages from the published journals, and of his desire to stand before the Pacific Ocean. Clarkston, the Washington State backwater situated across the Snake River on the border with Idaho, appears in the journals, but initially represents nothing more than a stop where Jake can engage in work and catch a breath on his journey west. It is a mere hiatus in his otherwise privileged, albeit potentially short, life.
Chris’s situation is altogether more mundanely tragic, stuck in a dead end job, in a dead end town. We meet his mother Trisha (Sophie Melville) whose historic difficulties with meth addiction have driven a wedge between mother and son. She is eager to re-establish their connection and tries to convince him that her six month sobriety is a sign she has turned a corner, but they have been here before. When his instinctual wariness causes him to exhibit reticence and scepticism, she is quick to lash-out, or resort to emotional blackmail by repeating their history, including the sacrifices she made as a young mother to keep them together.
Under Jack Serio’s sensitive direction, the bond that is formed between Chris and Jake is both tender and understated, so when it is cruelly dashed during an angry exchange, there is a palpable sense of loss felt by the audience who have begun to collectively invest in the young men’s potential as a couple. Following a genuinely heartrending episode during which mutual care and support play an integral part, the gentle mending of their bond gathers pace towards the latter stages of the play, leaving them finally facing the ocean, on a pitch perfect note of quiet and stoic optimism.
CLARKSTON plays 90 minutes without interval and continues its limited run at the Trafalgar Theatre until 22 November.
