The Ripple Effect at Eastern Angles Centre

Review by Catherine Larner.

The Eastern Angles Centre in Ipswich has become established as the home and the hub for our much-loved regional theatre company, but it is also a venue available for hire. The studio space, box office, bar and technical support are all available for a fee. It’s a great resource for other companies, individuals and organisations but it may not always be clear to the potential audience that what they have come to see is not an Eastern Angles production.

This week the Studio was used by Four by Four - ‘a collaboration of four East Anglia based playwrights’. Over three days, and four performances, it staged ‘The Ripple Effect’ a play by one of the four writers, David Pollard.

The artwork and blurb describing the production was attractive and appealing and the message is very much of the moment: as we increasingly struggle to distinguish truth from lies, and are victims of fake news and manipulation, the play promises to explore the impact of fraud and deceit when not challenged over generations, and how we can all be complicit in perpetuating untruths.

Pollard’s story is set in a fictional educational establishment, Brazegirdle College, which has built its status and reputation around a literary archive discovered by its founder centuries earlier. Now the College is struggling financially and, just as an American benefactor offers a lifeline, one of the students has uncovered a secret, suppressed through generations, but whose exposure would bring ruin for the College and all those associated with it.

The actors worked hard to create engaging characters but, with no back story, they seemed merely to be pawns for the central message. The script was at times repetitive in labouring points for the audience and the dialogue rather dense. A few plot points were irrelevant and distracting to the central story, and the moral of the piece ultimately was not rigorous enough.

In the cast of eight, Seb Ranson played a young and old Tom Miller, doing well not to be distracted by a lively moustache, and Beccy Hannah admirably maintained her American accent throughout.

This was an ambitious and admirable endeavour, but sadly, for me, it missed the mark. A little more time workshopping would have been valuable, I think, perhaps accessing other services available through the Eastern Angles Centre.

The Ripple Effect is at Eastern Angles Centre, Ipswich until 27 September.

FOR SHOW DETAILS AND BOOKING LINK, CLICK HERE