Written by David Hare in 1995, Skylight is uncomfortably voyeuristic and tantalisingly engrossing. Like a jigsaw as the plot weaves and winds fatalistically through Kyra and Tom’s lives, as we desperately try to avert the inevitable, while watching helpless from the side-lines.
And, as with all David Hare plays, there is a vital piece missing, which leaves the audience wonderfully frustrated, fully involved and guessing to the very end.
Set in a retro-fitted dank and drab flat, we find Kyra, played mindfully by Rosie Wyatt, and Louis Dempsey – a convincingly self-assured, if tortured, silver fox Tom.
Tom is a sharp businessman and sugar daddy figure who has everything but peace of mind. Full of angst, his is always spinning the wheel; whilst Kyra seems comfortable in her chosen vocation yet sparse surroundings. The morality tale’ has begun.
The duo have been reunited, and are now desperately trying to reignite their original relationship/affair and fill in the gaps. But the perfect picture they envisage seems unlikely, increasingly so as the play goes on, and we become as immersed and absorbed as they are.
Kyra becomes palpably frustrated at Tom’s self-absorbed conviction that her lifestyle and choices are only a rebellious act in relation to him. Yet still they struggle to reconnect.
Clearly disparate in many respects, the visibly different socio-economic circumstances are highlighted as their personalities and ideologies clash.
Punishment also seems to be a theme. Is Kyra punishing herself by the lifestyle she chooses? Is Tom punishing himself for the vacuous life he leads, convinced that his wife’s lack of forgiveness for their affair aims only to punish him? Has Kyra been inadvertently punishing herself for biting into the deliciousness of their forbidden fruit, and in so doing upsetting their comfortable lives for ever. Could a relationship that had once been based on deceit ever truly survive outside that bubble? Would that deliciousness now taste sour? These are all questions the audience must ask, savour and then reflect on, again a David Hare speciality.
Tom’s son Edward, wonderfully played by Roly Botha is a gawky, awkward teenager, who also seeks Kyra out. He is looking for reassurance and answers.
Without giving the game away, he, and not his father, ends up as the redeemer, a perfect pallet cleanser to the previous angst, and giving us, as well as the cast, such much need closure.
The perfect play for The Theatre Chipping Norton to choose for its ever-growing stable of home-grown productions, and as beautifully nuanced as we have come to expect from director John Terry, Skylight proves why local theatres should be producing more of their own work.
Skylight On at The Theatre Chipping Norton until September 21.
Tickets available at chippingnortontheatre.com
Elaine Lanighan
