The Driver's Seat, Lyceum

Based on a 1970 novella by Muriel Spark, which was advertised as a 'metaphysical thriller', it's a tale with a dark centre.

Lise is a thirty something office worker, alienated from her colleagues, cracking under the pressures of her job.  She decides to take a holiday of adventure, swaps her drab work wear for a garish, look-at-me outfit, and flies off to the sunny south.  Her origins and destination are never fully revealed, and the play is very much about what is seen, and heard, rather than known.

From early on the storyline keeps breaking off into a crime investigation with detectives commenting on the evidence they have gathered and questioning witnesses.  We quickly gather that they are attempting to solve a murder case.  And that Lise is the victim.

In the course of a day spent in the city Lise encounters a range of characters and to each it seems she is someone different, although to most of the men she is an object of lust and desire, a conquest to be made.  On the surface her actions look to be the result of increasing mental anguish.  The greatest strength of this production is the underlying suggestion of ambiguity, the sneaking thought that Lise's dramatic personality changes may largely be a reflection of the wishes and fantasies imposed on her by others.  How much responsibility should she be accorded for her own tragic end?

The staging is cleverly thought out.  A wide open space with the cast constantly shifting furniture and props to create new scenes, there's never a doubt about where we are at any moment, even when the police investigators are watching and commenting on the action as if watching a replay.  There are multi media aspects too, with static talking heads, or live action from handheld cameras, being projected on to the backdrop.  The close ups add to the intensity of the later scenes.  But it is also, despite the black subject matter, very funny at times, so that the build up in tension finds several release valves along the way.  The frantic stop-star taxi ride was memorable, and I loved the cheeky creation of an escalator.

Other than Morven Christie, who is excellent as the disturbed and disturbing central character, the cast all take on multiple personas.  With not a single weak link amongst them.  Tonight's performance was billed as a preview, but it looked like the finished article to me.

The most intriguing aspect of the staging was the character who sat at an outer desk throughout most of the play, working with what appeared to be listening or recording equipment.  He has no lines, little interaction with the other players, and is not even credited as a member of the cast in the programme.  We are all being watched.  And judged.

Not one to watch if you like definitive answers from your drama, because you'll leave this production with more questions than you had when you came in.