Arts:Blog

Theatre Review: The Driver's Seat ***

Michael Cox reviews 'a production more to admire than to like'.

The protagonist will be discovered stabbed to death with her arms bound. This is not a spoiler; audiences are told this fact near the very beginning of The Driver’s Seat. So, rather than wondering what's going to happen the question is more a matter of how. A ‘whydunnit’ is apparently what novelist Murial Spark coined when talking about her book, reportedly her personal favourite from her cannon of which this play is based.

And with its twists, foreign setting and atmosphere mixed with playfulness and foreboding, it's easy to see the attraction. Set in 1970, the play follows the mysterious Lise from a job she clearly hates onto a holiday. She acts sporadically: warm and bubbly one moment, short-fused and demanding the next. She also seems to enjoy taking on personas from different nationalities while leaving clues to herself throughout the city on a day trip. Is she up to something, or is she merely into spontaneous game-play?

The production itself is extremely well executed. The acting company are willing to play multiple colourful roles and ominous narrators, with each person portraying at least one memorable character. But it's Morven Christie who plays main character Lise who truly shines—haunting, warm, a walking enigma and always compelling.

Laurie Sampson’s production is consistently interesting. Sets glide past, cameras record nuanced ticks, and the evidence of Lise’s eventual murder is racked up on large boards and maps, all peppered with pictures, maps and annotations. Lights flicker, action is choreographed throughout the stage and a mesmerising soundscape scores every moment. It is all impressive to experience and marvel at.

Perhaps that's the great irony of this production: the final destination is a bit of a dead end, and upon reflection it doesn't feel nearly as satisfying as when the journey is unfolding. Is this down to a main character whose motives are dubious at best and a story that, after so much tension building and plotted intrigue, feels like a fizzled cop-out?

A production more to admire than to like, The Driver’s Seat is mostly worthy, even if it stalls at the final bend.

The Driver’s Seat has concluded its run at the Lyceum but performs at the Tramway July 2-4.