Two women marooned, soaked and spluttering. One refreshed, the other coughing up water, lost on a dreamy island. Life on one side, death on the other.
Robyn (Marianne Oldham) and Helen (Jessica Hardwick) are two lovers stranded on an island after their boat capsized, cut off from everything but each other. Directed by Murat Daltaban, and written by Zinnie Harris, Meet Me At Dawn is a two-hander which explores love, life and death through a surreal yet poignant story.
The stage is a space void of everything except a table and a chair, backlit by a wall of colour, bouncing from surface to surface, constantly altering the mood of the space and conveying the passage of time. It’s mesmerising: you cannot help but keep watching and your attention is constantly drawn in.
The performance is engaging and strong, with both actors commanding the space when appropriate. The frantic delusion contained in Oldham’s portrayal of Robyn meshes well with Hardwick’s ethereal yet indomitable Helen. There is a poignant sadness when Oldham warps the narrative with eerie monologues.
Spoiler alert: from the first words it’s clear from the contrast between the two characters, that all is not as it seems. Helen, in her spectral dress, turns out to be nothing but a phantasm of a loving memory. This leaves Robyn puzzling over what is real or not. So are we, but whereas she can only fret and deny her grief, for the audience this play offers great insight into death and self-delusion.
Meet Me At Dawn is now playing at the Arcola Theatre, London E8.
