Reviewed by James Karas
Ruckus is a play and a performance that one finds rarely, accidentally and in utter amazement. It is performed by a single actor with the voice over of a man and lasts one hour. In the end it leaves you breathless.
The writer and performer is Jenna Fincken and this is her first play. Its debut was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2022, and it was “noticed”. It then transferred to the small Southwark Playhouse in London where I was able to see it.
First, the performance. Fincken performs with so much energy, concentration and stamina as if this were an Olympics’ competition. It is not or she would have to be tested for taking enhancement drugs. How else can you account for what she does: runs, no, dashes around the small playing area, uses vocal and physical variations that are simply astounding and gives a simply astonishing performance.
Fincken plays the part of Lou or Louise, a young, intelligent, attractive and spunky teacher. She has two friends, Bryony and Jess (she plays both of them) and Ryan (Matthew Durkan’s voice). We hear Ryan’s voice but never see him. Lou speaks her lines, the lines of the other characters (except Ryan) and describes the context. All of it meticulously directed by Georgia Green.
She performs in a corner with white curtains hanging on each side. Before Lous speaks we see lights flashing and numbers like 824 days ago. At that point the flashing lights go off and Lou sees Ryan and asks him why his friend popped one of the balloons. She is at Jess’s wedding and the balloons form an arch. Lou shares an apartment with Jess and will now have to look for affordable accommodation on her own.
She does not get an answer about the balloon popping and the friend makes a rude comment. She then “accidentally” pours her gin over their shoes. This lady has gumption and will not stand for crap like that.
That is our first impression of Lou. From then on, we will find out that she and Ryan get together and their relationship blossoms and wilts into something with very serious consequences for Lou.
Fincken starts dropping clues about Lou’s relationship with Ryan. They seem innocuous at first. Lou starts smoking so she can get away from people.
She goes on a date with Ryan. He orders her food and acts like a gentleman. After dinner she suggest sex in very plain terms, and he suggests they go to a pub. She insists on getting his way. End of date. Lou has a low opinion of herself and perhaps some difficulty with close relationships. When Ryan suggests that they live together she agrees but feels he has yoked her.
But like any young couple they furnish and decorate their apartment including a collection of farm animal toys.
Time goes by and the number of days to go is flashed on the curtains. Lou’s mother and her friend visit and Ryan takes exception to the latter touching her waist. He touched her elbow, she replies, but it was her waist insists Ryan.
He becomes increasingly possessive. She does not have a key to the back door; he refuses to discuss holiday plans; she can’t log into their joint bank account. She goes away with her friend and realizes that Jess is a free spirit who gets what she wants. She returns home to find that Ryan has trashed the apartment but all is calm.
Things deteriorate until the end. I will not disclose what happens but many of you have probably guessed it.
Ruckus is a play about coercive control. It involves
an insidious pattern of behaviour like the one illustrated by Fincken in the
play where her husband controls her life to the extent of isolating her from
her family and friends, monitoring her movements, controlling the family
finances and ultimately controlling her basic freedoms and dehumanizing her.
Just in case there is a misunderstanding about how coercive control is perpetrated, Lou
tells us that Ryan never laid a finger on her.
Fincken does it all with finesse, subtlety and surgical precision. The play is not a lecture on coercive control but the story of a woman. It is an extraordinary play, a stunning performance and a great night at the theatre.
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Ruckus by Jenna Fincken in a production by Wildcat played until October 29, 2022 at the Southwark Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD. http://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/
James Karas is the Senior Editor - Culture of The Greek Press
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