‘Red ribbons, tissue paper and even one of those roll up penny sweets got used creatively to show the mutilation’ Robert Williams ★★★★★

Cleansed ★★★★★

St Annes, Wednesday 25th November, 12.30 p.m.

Review by Robert Williams

Cleansed is not an easy play to stage: arms need to be amputated, tongues get cut out. But St. Anne’s entry did a fair job of dealing with most of these more thorny issues in ways that showed a sound creative approach. Red ribbons, tissue paper and even one of those roll up penny sweets got used creatively to show the mutilation without having to resort to ketchup and rubber gloves. As an ensemble cast, too, the piece worked; the actors stayed an ever present part of the stage on black chairs that lurked just beyond the lighting. Unfortunately, despite all these individual efforts on specific issues, the whole was, in the end, confused and over-long. Perhaps an easier play with a naturally more coherent narrative would have suited this group better.