The Pitchfork Disney by Philip Ridley directed by Edward Dick

Arcola Studio 1 until March 17

The Arcola Theatre revival of The Pitchfork Disney (first performed at the Bush Theatre in 1991) is as engaging and startling in 2012 as any drama you are likely to find on a London stage. Mixing squalor, fear, fantasy and glamour, in 100 fast paced minutes of action, the dysfunctional, agoraphobic, chocoholic twins Haley and Presley take us on a dark, violent, intense rollercoaster through their internalised world. Behind a locked door their squalid, medicated existence is an imagined post-holocaust world where only they have survived. Quite how their parents disappeared is not explained and the 28 year old ‘children’ seem trapped in the moment of becoming independent of them, bearing guilt and comforting one another with graphic, fantastical tales whenever their emotional distress rears up. The contrast between their tender memories of childhood and the material of their imaginations is deeply affecting, with all their private fears reflecting society’s resistance to progression.

Mariah Gayle as Haley and Chris New as Presley establish a strong and tender twin bond whilst they also struggle physically and emotionally with one another. Within minutes of curtain up we are out of our comfort zone and away in whirl of excitement and horror. The arrival of the abrasively sparkling Cosmo Disney (a great performance from Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) be he real or imagined, and his sidekick gimp Pitchfork Cavalier (Steve Gaudino), plunge us further into a dark fantasy where your worst imaginings are what you really want to experience. With vomit, cockroach eating, finger sucking and wild speculation the action serves to stimulate our fearful mental wanderings into what could, can and will happen.

The extremity of the material, at times as excruciating as it is entertaining, and the powerful physical performances inject a good deal of humour into the experience, with laughter serving as a huge release of tension. Set and costume design by Bob Bailey see the action played out on a raised square, platform stage akin to a boxing ring. The characters dance out the drama around one another and deliver Ridley’s rhythmic script nigh on impeccably. Director Edward Dick has achieved an exhilarating revival of Ridley’s play.

Bryony Hegarty

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