Helena Rand’s new play Near Miss premieres this week at Unity Theatre, and provides a perfect vehicle for a stellar solo performance from Samantha Alton.
Near Miss is billed as the second part of a trilogy ‘Watching Windows’, but it is worth mentioning from the outset that you don’t need to have seen the first instalment to enjoy the second.
The earlier play (Rotten Apple, performed here last December) introduced the character of Korina as she headed to New York in the early 1990s, chasing her dream to become an actress and becoming involved in a doomed relationship.
Near Miss rejoins Korina in 2005 back on home turf in Liverpool, where she has forged a career as a teacher. The narrative explores the tapestry of threads that are woven into Korina’s life, unpicking them individually so that her relationships with her own children, her parents, her partner, her work colleagues and her students are examined separately, gradually forming themselves into a picture.
Her attempts to engage a class of teenage boys in English literature set up a clever series of scenes in which discussions with her class about various novels lead her mind to drift off to thoughts of her own life.
What begins as the tale of a person who has refocused herself from a life in the spotlight to a more down to earth career gradually wends its way into darker territory, as preparations for a works night out begin to reveal the world of domestic abuse which Korina has found herself living in.
Rand’s writing is beautifully nuanced, blending natural dialogue with laugh out loud touches of humour as well as real depth of emotion, and whilst much of the material is sourced from true stories, it is the author’s skill which turns it into compelling drama. Running to something approaching two hours (plus an interval) the play perhaps stretches its material a little too much. There is a lot of emotional investment required from the audience, and trimming it into a 90 minute one-acter might allow more of its impact to soak in. One scene involving some awkward and barely audible audience participation could certainly be lost without any detriment to the storytelling.
The success of any solo work like this lies in its delivery, and Samantha Alton is a perfect fit for the job. Alton has instant rapport with the audience and her skill at rapidly creating a fully fleshed out characterisation is extraordinary. Added to this is her ability to slip effortlessly in and out of depictions of other people in the story, including her parents and several of the kids in school. Meanwhile, such is the mesmerising effect that her performance has on the room that her questions to ‘the class’ do not elicit any unwanted interjections from the audience. It is testament to her acting that, even when the first act feels as though it might have ended a few scenes ago, we are still hanging on her every word.
Margaret Connell directs with perfect pacing, allowing every sentence of Rand's dialogue time to breathe, and keeping tight control over the emotional temperature throughout.
Near Miss is both a very clever piece of writing, which explores some challenging but essential subject matter, and an impressive showcase for one of Liverpool’s most skilful actors.
Rating: 4 stars
Production photographs by Jennifer Vaudrey
This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool
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