Laying ghosts to rest after 50 years

CHRISTINE
New End Theatre

ALMOST 50 years after giving the fingers-up to apartheid and abandoning his native South Africa in disgust, ‘Christine’ is journalist and first-time playwright Dirk De Villiers’ attempt to exorcise his demons.
An inquiry into the past of guilt-ridden Philip Keebler sets in motion a potentially powerful political drama about apartheid, glimpsed through the prism of one family’s struggle to keep the lid on an explosive secret.
Surprisingly, the eponymous Christine – the Keeblers’ downtrodden maid and the only black character in the play – is less of a protagonist than a foil to the family’s warped world-view.
Kate Best is impressive as bigoted battleaxe Kay Keebler, barking:“We want you to make something of your life Christine – now go and see to the door!”
Egged on by her repellent cousin Myra, Kay’s single-minded obsession with race puts her at loggerheads with her liberal daughter Sally, whose character serves as a mouthpiece for De Villiers’ predictable but meaningful home truths on the emotional havoc wrought by apartheid.
The increasingly suspect behaviour of Kay’s spineless husband Philip provides more than enough intrigue to carry along the play until De Villiers’ bombshell in the second half of the play.
The problem is not the revelation itself – the twist in the tale is thought-provoking – but the understated responses of the Keebler family, which beggar belief.
Sally’s platitudes, such as, “its alright, we’ll all come up for air eventually, deep breaths all round,” epitomise the Keeblers’ grating passivity – a ludicrous response which alienates the audience.
Martine McCutcheon lookalike Emily Bowman was a stage natural as Sally and Robin Samson pulled off hen-pecked Philip Keebler with aplomb.
If you’re prepared to suspend belief for an evening, there’s enough here to sink your teeth into.

Until September 10

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