Kelly Gough and Charlie Beaven in Run Sister Run at Arcola Theatre. Told over four decades, RUN SISTER RUN by Chloë Moss and directed for the Arcola’s production by Marlie Haco, explores the very different life experiences of once close and mutually dependent sisters Connie (Jo Herbert) and Ursula (Kelly Gough). The former is slightly older and at 16, strikes out to make her way in the world, get a job, a place to live and a boyfriend. The other suffers more profoundly with abandonment issues, succumbs to the numbing qualities of substance abuse, self-harming and generally goes off the rails.
Regressive scene sequencing means we gradually learn the origin of word-play references and the key events which shaped Connie and Ursula’s development into adulthood and form the basis for the choices they make and paths they take. Early in the play, the storyline revolves around the relationship between Connie and her abusive and unpleasant husband Adrian (the somewhat miscast Theo Fraser Steele) and son Jack (Charlie Beaven) who proves central to one of the play’s stronger threads involving sibling surrogacy. Having regressed all the way back to childhood tantrums and rumbustiousness, the play finally returns to the present and delivers a denouement which suggests that bridges will be mended and understandings reached.
Throughout the production, there is a tangible sense of phases and time passing in the human interactions between the sisters. Familial manipulation, rejection and reconciliation find their way into a complex, yet fleetly written piece, delivered by a cast which moves from frenetic to subdued in the blink of an eye and where even nuanced changes to their Irish accents is observed as periods and scenes are gradually ticked off. Tomás Palmer‘s set and costume design is a concoction of ‘spare and stylised’, combined with utter chaos, where a mirrored strip mounted to an eye-level shelf is juxtaposed with a floor strewn with buckets holding flowers, toys, clothing and the detritus of ages. The end result is profoundly messy but serves to support Ursula’s several aggressively animated scenes and acts as a metaphor for life in general. The cast throughout, complete quick costume changes reflective of their place in the world as they breathe life into the phrases and word-play which bind them, but which equally have the power to tear them apart.
RUN SISTER RUN continues at Arcola until 26th July.
