Old Times Review

From the opening of the play to its striking ending, Old Times feels like eavesdropping on a conversation you’re hearing on the bus – you are lost, unsure of the context, but not frustrated at this; rather, you are all the more engaged because of your confusion. It is not that the characters speak in riddles, but rather that you feel like you have come into the conversation halfway through. This is a dialogue-centric play, and while many such plays feel like conversations free of plot wherein ‘nothing happens’, Old Times is confounding in such a way that you may know something is happening but not be sure of the details. We can never be sure of the dynamics between characters, and this makes the play feel like a mystery that we, the audience, rather than an on-stage sleuth, must discover for ourselves.

The theatre that the play is being shown in is a very small space, and the production has placed the set in the front of that stage, with the back end covered by curtains. This makes it feel even more akin to overhearing a conversation on a bus. For a play where dialogue is so key, the actors’ vocal performance is perhaps more crucial than the way they physically embody their characters. I must offer high praise for this aspect of the performances. The vocal delivery of lines, the accents and the pronunciation felt so pitch-perfect to the time and setting of the play I was almost unsure that I should mention it, having all but believed this was how the actors really talked.

It is the production design overall that makes this rendition of the play sparkle. The lighting changes occasionally and ever so briefly, and every time feels like an exclamation point being placed over the scene. From the neon glow at times peeking out from the middle of the stage, like a mirage of the Old Times the characters call back to, to the monsoon of red light that envelops the stage near the end, which feels like the theatrical equivalent of zooming in. Then there is the way the production plays with shadows. At one point I felt compelled into watching the silhouette of a character from the wall of the theatre, and I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything by not looking at the stage directly. The sound design was also handled delicately, with sound being used sparingly but to great effect. The ominous hum at the end is the most striking example, but the restraint shown in volume and usage of sound prior is what makes that moment shine. Directors Bora Celebi and Ines S.L. handle a script that could have been performed fine without these elements, but with their addition is elevated, drawing out the strength of the writing with strong, measured direction.

The show is running from the 11th to the 15th of March. Tickets are available here.