VOID, a new play by Cormac Keating, and directed by Elianne Byrne, is on at the King’s Arms in Salford for a few nights. It’s a two-hander featuring Jessica (Jess, played by Azaelia Slade) and Oliver (played by Tommy Beswick).
Jess and Oliver are in a relationship, and the play tracks the aftermath of a night out with another couple.Jess and Oliver arrive home from the evening out and, in fairness to the character, Jess would just like to crash but Oliver has other ideas involving “True Confessions” (with dire consequences). Previous relationships are discussed, and once the genie is out of the bottle, he learns very quickly that you can’t just put the stopper back in. If you’ve seen the film “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, you’ll be well-prepared for the evening.
Without spoiling things, it’s fair to say that things don’t go well, and the notes on the web that this is dark humour are correct, although sometimes you wonder if laughter is appropriate. At other times you wonder if one or both of Jess and Oliver might be psychotic as mutually assured destruction is obviously going to follow pressing their self-destruct buttons, but no more spoilers.
It’s well acted (energetically so at times) and well directed, and at around an hour and a quarter is about the right length.
VOID continues until the 8th of October. TICKETS
Great savings too at the bar with my Canal St Card.
Paul Schofield for Canal Street Media