Sanctuary Review

November 28, 2024

Sanctuary Review

26th – 30th November 2024

As you make your way to your seat, skirting around a ramshackle set up of a room, equipped with shaggy rug, a buddha statue and a kitsch LED sign beaming the message that ‘All you need is love’, you do get the strange sense that you have intruded upon someone’s personal ‘sanctuary’.

This feeling is only heightened when you notice a figure, struggling to get comfortable on one of her many yoga bolsters that are strewn across the carpet. The figure is Cassie, played by Laura Shipler Chico. Her restlessness is symbolic of what’s to come – she doesn’t even settle when she puts on her glow in the dark eye-mask.

“Both actors had good comic timing and characterised their differences through contrasting body language”

The lights go up and the play is basked in a golden glow: you have been granted entry to the sanctuary. The use of sound across the play is brilliant, and the beginning scene was set through a pre-recorded soundscape of news bulletins, urgently playing across each other. As this gets louder, Cassie ups and busies herself, stacking tins, pacing. We get the sense that all is not well.

But Cassie’s fretfulness is soon balanced out, with the entry of another intruder: Cassie’s best friend, Amelia, played by Andrea Milton-Furlotti. A loud Texan, with conservative beliefs and a deep conviction in Christianity, Amelia is everything that Cassie is not.

Their strong friendship is, however, apparent and the bond is emphasised through their reminiscence of high school days. Laura Shipler Chico’s use of body language was especially expressive throughout, and here she curled up by Andrea’s feet, jumped around on her ladder and mimicked nostalgic dance routines, with great comedic success.

As the play progresses, the script teeters between political topics of disagreement and banal memories or gossip. This is all the while punctured by sound effects of rowdy male voices which give the impression of an insurrection-like violence going on ‘out there’, building tension as Cassie is clearly afraid, whilst Amelia continues deny that anything is wrong. The whole play felt as if it could be a snapshot into the living room of a MAGA supporter and exasperated Democrat, determined to maintain a bond of sorts despite two clashing versions of reality.

There were some great moments of humour, created by the script and delivered with good timing – Cassie’s wistful explanation of her love for puffins before Amelia relates to the story by recalling how she ‘ate a puffin once’ is a memorable example. This certainly felt needed given the heaviness of the topic: references to the 2021 Insurrection, and Trump’s first Presidency were scarily close to home.

The script was at times a little surface level. One scene of disagreement felt sloppy, as the characters resorted to flinging buzzwords; ‘snowflake’, ‘woke’, ‘my peace’, at each other. But perhaps that is the point – a reflection of the polarity and crudeness we’re often faced with on social media.

The climax of the play also felt a little sudden. There is no denying it left a chilling impact, but perhaps there could have been more build up in the characters’ biggest argument yet. The staging reflected the extent of disagreement, Amelia risen from her perch on the pouffe, and standing coldly across the room. But the delivery lacked the drama that it felt was needed to lead to the shocking next moment.

That said, there is no denying that this was slickly carried off. Both actors had good comic timing and characterised their differences through contrasting body language, tone and use of the space very well. The attention to details shown in sound and light did wonderfully to emphasise the changing moods across the 45 minutes. The LED sign, constantly on, reminded us that ‘All you need is love’. But you were left pondering if love really is enough in these chilling times that we live in…

Naima Clarvis