The latest offering from The Bunker Theatre is Abigail, written by Fiona Doyle. A short, but punchy, two-hander directed by Joshua McTaggart.
A deliberately disjointed story flashes back and forth, through a twelve month relationship between ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’. We are taunted early on, thinking their names may be revealed, but they never are. We know only that ‘Man’ is older and they meet on a flight to Berlin.
As the play progresses we begin to see the fracturing of the relationship, and we see our perception of a controlling relationship, and domestic abuse, flipped on its head.
Mark Rose and Tia Bannon ably command the stage for the full hour. They work very much as a team and are in perfect sync. Both manage to switch between the emotional states that the structure of Abigail demands.
The set immediately draws attention, a seemingly haphazard arrangement of crates and packing boxes line the back wall. As the play progresses, so many seem to serve a purpose; concealing the next prop or costume change. The barefoot actors, climb and scale various parts of the set throughout.
Sound Designer, Andy Josephs, has done a fantastic job. There is some wonderful ambient background sounds that are neither obtrusive nor too subtle. Overall, Abigail has been directed very well, there are some lovely nuances that show the care and attention that has gone in to staging the play. Though, from where I sat, I felt I missed out on a key scene because of the way the actors were positioned.
Abigail is certainly thought provoking, and at times enlightening. The sixty-minute running time leaves little space for plot or character development, but what we do get is a piece of theatre that has been lovingly staged by the cast and creative team.
