Christiana Rose finds that three is the magic number

Three actors on stage in a production by Theatre In The Square — The cast of Just Thinking Of You

Three original one-act plays were performed at The Ravensfield Theatre at Middlesex University in Hendon from 2nd-5th April, as a product of community drama group Theatre In The Square’s yearly twenty-four-hour play writing festival.

The festival runs at East Finchley Methodist Church and is led by the unexpected influence of a prop box. In September 2024 the prop box selections spontaneously produced a rubber duck, a crown and a remote control.

The participants were then tasked with an all-nighter to write a ten-minute script, which was then workshopped with members and critiqued by students from Birkbeck’s MA Theatre and Performance: Dramaturgy and professional writers. The festival is always well-attended and generates a showcase of local creativity for their performers to experiment with.

Rubber Ducking was written and performed by Rosie Fiore-Burt as Eleanor, Adrian Hughes as Jack and Sasha Gordon as Jessie. The sharp script relished in the celebration of opposites attracting, in relationships and marriage, whilst acknowledging the distance and distortion which may occur when stark differences exist in character types.

The clash of Eleanor’s personality routed in practicality versus Adrian’s creative spirit came under fascinating scrutiny. An inspection of how a long-term marriage can sustain difference, understandably deduced that without effort a lack of connection would form cracks.

Eleanor’s character presented a stark look at the side effects of work commitment, from familial relationship neglect to self-inflicted pressure and introspective work experiences in the context of a complex consultancy role. The burden of the heavy task was approached with the practice of ‘debugging’ the use of coding, to calculate redundancy for an organisational restructure exercise.

The concept of rubber-ducking was gloriously explored, which is the idea that a programmer creates clarity by explaining their coding line-by-line to a rubber duck to create a step-by-step solution.

An astute script, Rubber Ducking was insightfully performed, highlighting the importance of fleeting life choices, which with measured consideration, will always lead to multiple outcomes. The message of optimism and resilience was refreshing and absorbing.

Just Thinking of You by Mary Groom featured Elizabeth Kogan as Margaret, Sean Roberts as Harry and Alice Gill-Carey as the carer. Steeped in nostalgia of a somewhat mis-spent youth and set in a retirement home, a look at dementia was sensitively and perceptively made.

Kogan’s portrayal of the once-vibrant Elizabeth was both perceptive and beguiling. The exploration of memory loss, distress, confusion and connection was moving and poignant. Just Thinking of You would make an excellent extended play and was very well received by the audience.

Remote by Robert Alderman is an experimental play concerning artificial intelligence in a desolate future world. The existence was limited by endless loops, conspiracy and despair leading to encompassing oblivion.

Jet was played by Kai Richards. Shade by Cole Mulligan, Pulse by Jennie Rich, Rune by Lynn Fidler, and Creed by Colin Joseph. Disturbing and thought-provoking Remote was an interesting concept, steeped in a warning of honouring legacy and heeding liability.

Theatre In The Square is a community theatre group, based in East Finchley, North London. Their aim is to perform challenging, ground-breaking and unusual works. Theatre In The Square perform three full productions a year, and host rehearsed and unrehearsed play readings and monthly social events: https://www.theatreinthesquare.org/welcome.htm

Stars: 4 stars

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