(Vanessa Cooke & Graham Hopkins)
Exquisitely
funny and moving black tragic-comedy makes for terrific entertainment. (Review
by Margaret von Klemperer)
Two
characters: one almost completely silent and one extremely and often
inappropriately talkative. These are the bare bones of Vigil, an exquisitely funny and moving black tragic-comedy. Graham
Hopkins takes the role of a “dutiful” nephew who turns up at his aunt’s house
in response to a letter she has sent him, after a long estrangement, to say she
is dying. He’s keen for this to happen as soon as possible – almost as an
opening gambit, he asks if she wants to be cremated.
The
nephew obviously has an ulterior motive – maybe there’s something in this
situation for him. The aunt, played by Vanessa Cooke, is silently alarmed by
his arrival, and by many of his subsequent actions. Cooke’s performance is
beautiful. Without saying anything, she manages by actions and facial
expressions to convey a whole range of thoughts and emotions, and is also very
very funny.
This
death is a long time coming. The nephew, sitting by the window and commenting
on the passing seasons and peculiar behaviour of the neighbours, particularly
the elderly woman across the street who never moves from her chair, does his
best to hurry things along. And at the same time, he reveals his own, sad
history.
Not
everything is quite what is seems, of course. There are moments towards the end
that bring tears as well as laughter as the best theatre should. Hopkins
delivers a tour de force as the
“resoundingly unpopular”, crass nephew, while Cooke matches him and
manipulates. It makes for terrific entertainment. – Margaret von Klemperer
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