Lost Watches At Park Theatre Review
What happens when grief manifests in talking sculptures and ghostly confrontations?
Lost Watches is a surreal new play featuring the voice of Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus, Harry Potter), which is what drew me to the play.
Written by emerging playwright Lorenzo Allchurch (Bollocks), this psychological absurdist drama-comedy explores grief, mental health and memory. The play centres around Allen, who is left with a house he cannot pay for following his mother’s death and father’s absence. On the weekend before his family home is due to be repossessed, Allen receives a series of unexpected visits that lead him down a dark path of discovery. Allen also converses with a sculpted head of Beat Generation author William Burroughs.
Lost Watches is a described as a ghost story for anyone who’s ever felt stuck in time. The play asks universal questions that make us pause and think:
- Can the dead help us heal?
- What happens when we can’t distinguish memory from invention?
- How do we let go – of people, places, pain – before it consumes us?
Jason Isaacs featured as the voice of Beat Generation author William Burroughs. Using an American accent, he is mocking and sneering. At times it’s a bit distorted and hard to hear clearly, and as it’s prerecorded some of the tension and energy from a scene partner is lost.
Allchurch wears dual hats as he also stars as Allen. Allchurch is able to show Allen’s varying emotional states- angry, confused, self-blaming. Then quickly changing to a bouncing energetic young man, in a scene played against Leah Apaen as northerner PC Dread. She balances seriousness and wittiness. ‘Can I have your number?” asks Allen; “999”, she replies.
Gabrielle Moran plays a series of roles from overall-clad, smoking Mother; to tweed-wearing father; and sibling Jack. None appear on stage for long and it makes sense having one actor play them all but if it wasn’t for the costume changes I would have been confused. Even with this I was under the impression, as were some audience members, that Jack was short for Jacqueline for a while.
Performed in Park Theatre’s intimate Park90 space, the stage is surrounded by audience on three sides. Award-winning filmmaker and theatre director Alex Helfrecht (The White King, A Winter’s Journey), makes good use of the small stage and props. The majority of the action takes place in a shed of a derelict large house, with black boxes holding various sculptures (production design by Rob Davis). The projections by Ryan Watson were great. There’s endless shelving of sculptures and a window shaping changing weather, which does emphasis the small world Allen lives in. Nell Golledge’s lighting is well done.
This is Allchurch’s debut full-length play, and his writing mixes dark comedy with emotional vulnerability. There’a a few witty remarks and a couple of moments that made us chuckle. At 70minutes with no interval, a slightly longer performance would have allowed us to gain more knowledge of relationships and Allen’s journey. Stories around mental health, particularly male mental health need to be told, and this has potential.
Lost Watches performs at Park Theatre from 30 July – 23 August. Performance times are 7pm Monday – Saturday evening and 3:15pm for Thursday and Saturday matinees. Tickets from £15.
Address: Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace,
Finsbury Park, N4 3JP
Website: https://parktheatre.co.uk/events/lost-watches/
Written by Caitlin Neal
photographer credit Rob Davis.
