THERE is nothing else on the dimly lit stage, except for three white squares drawn on the floor and a man (Jon Spooner) and a woman (Clare Duffy) dressed in black. When the two start to talk, the static breaks life is somehow sparked.
Static was inspired by the television report of the war in Kosovo in 1999. Performed at the Rizal Auditorium of the St. Raymund’s Building last November 20, the 40-minute play presented by Unlimited Theater, shows the contrasting experiences of a young Englishman and a young woman in the war-torn Eastern European country.
Even before the woman starts to talk, the pain she carries already shows. Yet, she speaks in an unemotional, informative, and illuminating way, telling of the ordinary day when she noticed the sky.
The man, like the woman, speaks of his ordinary life when he is bothered by trivial frustrations. Gradually, he proves that his life is not like everybody else’s. He lives in a period nobody would like to be part of—when the threat of one’s country crumbling outweighs the one’s problems.
In the two intercuting monologues delivered by two figures that hardly move, the shocking experiences of the woman and the annoying stories of the man disclose much about their characters.
Static provokes an examination of the contradictory deadening effect of the real horror of news when presented on TV. The calm delivery of the lines made the audience concentrate on the two strangers who touched each other’s lives in the most surprising way.
Unlimited Theatre is based in Leeds, United Kingdom. It has been working since 1997 to offer an alternative to mainstream theater. Static is a Fringe First winner for “innovation in theater and an outstanding production” at the Edinburgh Festival.
