Bristol Old Vic’s historic theatre being closed for refurbishment presents a challenge for directors forced to improvise in some of the building’s other spaces. During the summer, Treasure Island was taken outside. Come the autumn, Coasting has made it to the Studio, with the action happening all around us in disconcerting yet truly imaginative ways.
On entering the Studio, many of the audience were directed to sit within ‘pods’, rough shapes drawn on the floor. Coasting wasn’t just a play performed in the round, but a fully immersive theatrical production, with swirling smoke adding to the intrigue.
Pearl and Ocean are two homeless teenagers on the fringes of society in a nowhere coastal town, pursued by the butch WPC who they call Falcon. Drifting further from reality in words and actions, the pair are inseparable. Falcon meanwhile is a loner who gets too close to Ocean for both of their comforts.
Pearl and Ocean wandered, ran and fought among us in the first half, our necks straining to glimpse where they would be next, perhaps on high sitting on a bench overlooking the seafront, gleefully playing on the blinking fruit machines, or rolling on a bed that Tracey Emin would be proud of.
In the second half, the action was raised up a level, with the audience in the pit first standing to watch Pearl in Falcon’s flat on one piece of staging, and then turning to watch Pearl comfort a bloodied and bruised Ocean on the other.
As if the immersiveness wasn’t complete with being within the action, the crashing of waves, banging of fireworks, and the incessantly roving gaze of a police spotlight drew us even deeper into this nether-world.
Coasting has been in development since last year when a rough script by Natalie McGrath was first read as part of a Ferment festival, the Old Vic’s platform for new and experimental work. McGrath worked with literary producer Sharon Clark to strip the play to concentrate on the pivotal characters of Pearl and Ocean and their brutal yet ultimately loving relationship.
Nadia Giscir is superb as the proud and vulnerable Pearl, prowling among us like a cat and always with a glint in her eye, while Tom Wainwright brings both physicality and frailty to the role of Ocean.
Skilfully directed by Emily Watson-Howes, Coasting is a must-see production. It is not solely the unusual vantage point that makes it difficult to watch at times; this is a marvellously fresh and vitally engaging piece of brand new theatre.
Coasting is at Bristol Old Vic until October 15. Click here for more information.
