The Seventh Doctor and Mel arrive in The Needle where they must confront their anger and rage. They are definitely seeing red.
The Seventh Doctor and Mel arrive in The Needle where they must confront their anger and rage. They are definitely seeing red.
RED
Future dystopian societies have been on frequent display in recent Big Finish releases, from “Time Works” to “Something Inside” to Stewart Sheargold’s “Red,” an exploration of the consequences of a violence-free society. Sheargold’s concepts are the best of the three — his setting and his script are certainly the richest — but unfortunately “Red” reads better as an outline, as the realization leaves much to be desired.
The Needle, overseen by central computer Whitenoise (John Stahl), houses citizens in whose brains chips have been placed. These chips suppress violent urges and violent actions, and further enable Whitenoise to edit the minds of “chipped” citizens. So what happens in a society in which people are deprived of violence? Sheargold, who seems to perceive violence as a central facet of the human condition, believes in a “depravity through deprivation” thesis: people unable to commit violent acts will eventually come to desire the ability to do violence above all else. Outside the Needle, the sheer idea of violence is enough to intimidate and threaten — far beyond our concept of “assault” — but within the Needle, violence is fetishized to a disturbing degree. Sheargold centralizes this perception of violence in Vi Yulquen (Sandi Toksvig), a fascinating character who desires both to commit violent acts and to suffer violence against her person, but whose urges descend to a primal level, beyond what we might call S&M. Yet that comparison exists for a reason: this play has a prominent sexual undercurrent, from hints of a lesbian subtext between Yulquen, Celia Fortunaté (Kellie Ryan), and Nuane (Denise Hoey) to the rather disturbing scenes wherein Draun (Peter Rae) threatens Mel with a knife and the possibility of violence — likening this to the threat of rape isn’t a stretch. Coming from an American culture where sexuality is dangerously repressed — though not quite on the order of violence in the Needle — the correlation between violence in “Red” and sexuality seemed all too apparent to this reviewer. This isn’t a condemnation, of course — Sheargold deals intelligently with the topic and does not stoop to lurid exploitation.
Unfortunately, structural and production flaws plague “Red” and restrict the fascinating ideas at its core. First, and primarily, the play is far too long: there is no need for this production to run 130 minutes, and this is apparent immediately from the first three scenes, in which we hear two repeated descriptions of something we heard at the opening. This becomes more obvious through the static nature of the play: with only three primary locations, and little transition between them, “Red” almost comes across as stagebound, something which can ill afford repetition. Secondly, the “red” motif itself proved totally ineffective to me: though I recognize that there’s a repeated assertion of self in there, the realization (especially McCoy’s) proved incredibly annoying after only one or two repetitions, causing my teeth to grind for the remainder of the play.
This isn’t Sylvester McCoy’s best effort in the lead role. It’s not his worst, but throughout the second half he comes across as never having read the script, delivering confusing inflections and oddly-placed emphases. His grunts of “Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred!” sound animalistic enough, I suppose, but they’re grating rather than terrifying. Bonnie Langford’s role as the only un-chipped person around is surprisingly cast as reactionary, so she’s not especially proactive, but her performance is as strong as ever. Toksvig and Stahl steal the show, though — Toksvig is creepy as the violence-obsessed Yulquen, while Stahl’s calm, urbane tones never shift even as Whitenoise descends into homicidal madness. Ryan is solid as Celia, but it’s unfortunate that her character is killed off right after she becomes interesting!
Gareth Jenkins’ production design is appropriate for the piece, but I feel that it (along with Andy Hardwick’s music) could have added more. The Needle didn’t have the expected clinical feel, while the outside world didn’t sound much different. These are nitpicky criticisms, however, of fine production work. The play seems to flag at times, though whether this is down to the script or Gary Russell’s direction is unclear — but Russell’s actors, save McCoy, are on top form as usual. Stuart Manning’s cover is worthy of note as well.
I’d like to rate “Red” higher — it really is one of the most intelligent releases from Big Finish in quite some time — but, in the end, it just isn’t dramatically satisfying, whether on a plot, character, or atmospheric level. Whether this is down to the script or to personal taste is unclear, but in either case, there are some great ideas on display to sink the teeth into. I’d love to hear more from Sheargold, who has certainly marked himself out as an author to watch.
Recommended.
7/10