Review: Unsoiled

A brand new student-written drama hit the Corpus Playroom stage last night in the form of Unsoiled, a 2-hour long show written and co-directed by Ewan Martin-Kane, and set in the fictional village of Briggsley. Country by name and country by nature, this “ploughboy’s anthem” opens with the hilariously self-aware scene in which new ploughboy Pete (Jake Fenton) goes to strike the formerly fertile ground with his plough, only to find it hard and entirely impenetrable: as one would expect, of course, from the floor of a local theatre.

However, this sorry state of affairs shows no signs of changing, and from this distinctly theatrical and hilariously memorable opening anecdote unfolds a very human drama, recounting a community’s reaction in the face of a catastrophe and ensuing famine. Perhaps it’s medieval, perhaps it’s not; natural disaster and the strengthening and shattering of societal bonds following hardship are universal themes, and the Man for Catastrophe’s refusal to even label the events as a catastrophe – favouring the term “crisis” – might strike more than one or two chords with the modern audience here in Cambridge.

Image credits: Maria Woodford

Lead characters Pete (Jake Fenton), Brangwen (Jake Turner), Orla (Rebecca Davis) and Nina (Maya Calcraft) set off on a northbound journey in search of soil, and from here on out, it is genuinely unclear where the storyline of Unsoiled is headed. Blending the comedic and the tragic makes for some excellently witty dialogue, but it isn’t clear until the very final scenes where this will take us in the end, and even the romance which subsequently emerges is difficult to read into and predict. This ambiguity might be both a blessing and a curse.

Commendations must go to the cast as a whole, especially the supporting cast, who truly brought this highly varied and eccentric community to life in a way rarely seen at the Corpus Playroom: the acting itself simply couldn’t be faulted. The village scenes were vivid and entertaining thanks to Isobel Lawrence‘s hilariously bumbling Man for Catastrophe and Bella Rew‘s vibrant Man for Peace and Good Order, both of whom delivered short but memorable performances to countless laughs.

Image credits: Maria Woodford

It was a shame, though, that some of these wonderful supporting characters wound up having more fully-fleshed and memorable personalities than the main characters did: the lead roles occasionally felt more like sketches than fully-developed people we could empathise with. For example, for all that Rebecca Davis and Maya Calcraft performed excellently as Orla and Nina respectively, the blossoming relationship between the two characters initially seemed so full of potential that by the end it was rather a shame that it was left largely unexplored.

Then again, perhaps subtlety is the buzzword after all: for all that the play possesses a brashly humorous and darkly self-aware premise, it turned out to be Unsoiled’s earthy and organic production style which matched its… earthy… topic most fittingly. The team conjured up the strangely medieval countryside world to perfection last night, not only due to the solid acting throughout, but also thanks to the believable set and costume design and some excellent directorial choices. Co-director Anna-Maria Woodrow‘s haunting musical interludes as The Bard were an especially excellent addition, creating both a medieval country flavour and an ambiance of impending doom.

Image credits: Maria Woodford

Under the eyes of a less observant pair of directors, a play with a cast of 13 could easily have become a recipe for disaster: I’m not unaccustomed to seeing pieces with a cast of only two or three performed on the tiny Corpus stage for good reason, and in some shows, even having six people onstage at once has felt far too cramped for comfort. Remarkably, this was never a risk here, as smooth transitions and strong stage presence from the cast as a whole meant that Unsoiled ran smoothly from start to finish.

Overall, Unsoiled might not be picture-perfect, but it is a thoroughly engaging and intriguingly innovative piece of theatre, and I would certainly count it among one of the best student-written plays I have seen here in Cambridge so far. I hope that writer Ewan continues to write going forwards – if he so desires – because he certainly has a promising future ahead of him.

4/5

Unsoiled is running at the Corpus Playroom at 7.00pm from Tuesday 2nd until Saturday 5th March, and is recommended for audiences aged 15+. Tickets are available here.

Feature Image credits: Coco Wheeler