Review: Mon Droit, Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)
* * *
With his admiration for the monarch assuming chivalric proportions in his mind, he resists his medication, quits his stressful car hire job and flees to London. Suki Webster portrays the various women who exploit this gentle but agitated man, eventually coming to know him as runaway Ellie; two lost souls embarking on an impossible quest together.
Suffused with sadness throughout, director John Nicholson doesn’t permit the impending sense of tragedy to overwhelm this exploration of delusion and obsession. A simple but versatile set keeps the focus firmly on McShane’s portrait, which is so finely nuanced you begin to wonder if Webster’s various roles are figments of his imagination, unreliably filtered back to the spectator. The dialogue is less convincing, and the brief sallies of social commentary are clumsy. Still, they don’t detract from a fine central performance.
Until 27 August. Today 2pm.