THEATRE REVIEW: 20 Cigarettes
- Posted on August 21, 2007 3:31 PM
- 0 comments
Soho Theatre
Written by Marcy Kahan
Directed by Toby Frow
Review by Zarina Raja
20 Cigarettes is part of the National Youth Theatre Season alongside Whiteboy, Victory Street, ipod, do you? and 100 Word Plays.
The dreary set gawped at me like a mouth of a smoker, hanging open, poised for its next cigarette. The grey walls and dull lighting of the set could have easily represented the inside of a smoker’s lung, bleak and on the verge of collapse. Nevertheless, this did not stop me wanting to spark up as the smoke of the actors drifted in to the audience and wafted under my nose and uh - tightened my chest. Even as a non-smoker, smoking has never looked so cool…
20 Cigarettes starts with the main character Oscar Klavier, pacing the room of his psychoanalyst who is attempting to help him quit smoking. She asks him to recall the 20 most significant cigarettes of his life and with that, Klavier’s life begins to unfold from the time he has his first cigarette which is given to him by his mother.
Initially, I felt really irritated by his psychoanalyst but that was obviously the point. She bellowed in a nasal tone, prodding Oscar for any information that she could link back to why he smoked. As the play went on, (as did my cigarette craving) a brilliant humorous edge began to unfold, mocking, teasing and unleashing some devastatingly true and sometimes profound lines:
“Quit smoking and I will marry you.”
“Suck on my knife,”
“You smoke beautifully,”
And lastly, “Cigarettes are one of humanities noblest inventions.”
20 Cigarettes delved into attitudes towards smoking from the 60’s onwards. With this came some good music, quick set turnaround and costume changes. The actors were sharp, witty, excellent performers and are the future of theatre.
Marcy Kahan has written about something alot of people can relate to. Although the play was comical and light hearted, it was laced with sadness and an underlying theme – that smoking is something that remains consistent in a inconsistent world. Ah, my Philosophy degree was worth something then…
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