Review: I Can See The Sun, The Hope Theatre 

What is exciting about new plays – and new companies for that matter – is they have a wonderful opportunity to go for it, be ambitious, take us in a completely different direction. Sometimes this does not happen but at other times it does. I Can See the Sun from new company Light The Night Theatre, luckily for us, falls into the second category. 

Imagine, if you will, a three-hander inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. It begins in total darkness, appropriately enough, as we find our protagonists, mother and daughter, bickering having taken a wrong turning after visiting IKEA in Goole(!!), and now they’ve abandoned their car and are lost in a dark wood on the moors. Right from the start, you leave any logical reality behind because we are embarking into a surreal, mystical journey where characters lose barriers, talk honestly for the first time and find things out about themselves. 

Of course, ‘going into the woods’ has always been a trope with overwhelming psychological, almost Freudian overtones, moving from simple fairy tales (brilliantly captured by Sondheim in his Into the Woods) to the interpretation of dreams. But here Tania Khan (who is playwright, director and plays the daughter Grace) opts to keep the dialogue and subject matter quite parochial but humorous. It’s a typical mother and daughter relationship of reproach and lack of demonstrative love, constrained from moving forward when they come across a river with the sign “Abandon hope all ye who enter here”. 

But lo and behold, an intruder stumbles into the scene and mother (Karen Cass) knocks him out with one of the branches and twigs that are to hand. Here I’d like to mention the set and design, which for such a small space does wonders to evoke a wood. Strips of earth and autumn leaves are scattered, with stubby bushes that have detachable parts (important for a later scene). Jessica Brauner’s brilliant video projection of a deep wood uses shimmering light, making it eerie and menacing and bringing it all to life as the dripping rain starts. It is very effective, I must say. The intruder comes round and with his black balaclava resembles a kind of elemental Caliban, emerging from the earth. But no, he’s a guitarist called Noah (Ethan Dillon) who has got lost after a Goth gig at Pickering! Khan is good at bringing us down to earth with gags like that.

Suspension of disbelief continues as mother leaves her daughter alone with this unknown, dark stranger (really? but never mind). Grace and Noah’s relationship, despite initial hostility, blossoms as they realise they are on the same mystical plane – great scene this. Dillon is excellent in giving us a left-field ‘Celtic Green Man’ character with his guitar: he has a clean, crystal clear delivery with a great presence. 

However, it is here that the pauses start coming, dragging what promised to be an unexpectedly effervescent evening down into one of longueur, unfortunately capped by an interminable – almost five minutes – of building a shelter out of branches and greenery. It feels that Kahn starts with a great idea but does not find the means to develop it further nor to arrive at a well earned conclusion. The arrival of the dawn, in all its meanings, and the familial reconciliation doesn’t quite work, I’m afraid. This is such a shame because it starts so brilliantly. 

However, I applaud the ambition and initial concept. It is eccentric, fun and thought-provoking but it doesn’t succeed in keeping that quirky ball in the air right to the end.

Written & Directed by Tania Khan
Associate director: Hope Wishart
Design consultant: Alice Edgar
Videographer: Jessica Brauner
Lighting Design by Cian Feasy
Produced by Light The Night Theatre

I Can See The Sun plays at the Hope Theatre until Saturday 21 November.