For all intents and purposes, The Crumple Zone is a funny and chaotic piece. But can there really be too much chaos? It seems as though The Crumple Zone toes the line between ‘just right’ and excess.
The play follows a group of young adults (Buck, Terry and Alex) struggling to make it in the big city at Christmas, through professional and relationship failures alike. The set includes a typical New York formatting, with a couch, a TV set, and coat hanger. Although it is not expressly mentioned when the piece is set, the TV led us to believe it was before the era of cellphones and social media. There is also a Christmas tree behind the couch, a set piece which very quickly becomes the victim of its owners’ antics.
When it came to the sound design, there seemed to have been some issues towards the first 5 minutes where the music overshadowed the speech. However, it was very smoothly resolved and the rest of the show ran flawlessly, despite having to deal with a busy train track right above the stage.
Buck was an interesting character, although seemingly monotonous. There is very little in the way of development of his story, and it often seemed as though he was the victim of his own story. Not in charge of his own life, but going along with what others decide for him. For a character who, on first appearance, is seemingly clever and perhaps more fortunate than the others, the development was ill-matched. This is not in any way a testament to the performance given by James Mackay that was simply true to the written text.
Alex had a very similar issue. He is a man torn between his love for his long-term girlfriend Sam and his affair with Buck. Professionally, Alex works as a Shopping Centre Santa, with little ambition to do anything more in his life, despite being given motivation by his friends. The audience therefore finds itself torn between rooting for the character to succeed professionally or hoping that he’ll be fulfilled by a successful relationship.
Jonny Davidson’s performance, however, was a brilliant nuance of light-hearted and gut-wrenching. The last of the trio is by far the most interesting. James Grimm’s character Terry was just hilarious and incredibly easy to become attached to. Always quick to hand out witty comebacks like candy cane and put a smile on our faces. His character involved a lot of slapstick comedy, for which Grimm was more than apt.
All in all, the main factor which left an unfortunate disparity between the quality of the performances and the experience of the overall show, is the lack of clear character development. The vast majority of characters felt monotonous, despite having the initial momentum to move on and develop throughout the 90 min of show time. Despite all of this, The Crumple Zone promises a good time and delivers on it.
The Crumple Zone runs at Waterloo East Theatre until 22nd December.
★★★☆☆ (3*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Peter Davies
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