Hampstead Theatre
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At first glance, I And You is a simple heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship between Anthony and Caroline that blossoms from an American literature project they have been assigned to do together. Caroline is a girl suffering from an illness, which forces her to remain at home, with only her phone as a means of interaction with other people. When Anthony arrives, unannounced, with a seemingly boring homework assignment and a plate of cookies, Caroline is, at first, shocked and angry, but eventually the two share stories with one another and they begin to connect. Gunderson knows where she is going with the story from the beginning: she feeds the audience little clues, subtly guiding us towards the true meaning, so that, by the end, with one single phrase, the audience is hit with realisation. When that one phrase was said, there was an incredible silence, as the whole theatre gasped in shock, watching all the pieces fall into place. The most impressive aspect of the play was the way in which it was meticulously and cleverly crafted so that, in looking back, the audience discovered that they had been noticing all these clues from the beginning.
The majority of the play is set in Caroline’s bedroom, which characterises the fact that she is stuck in her bedroom most of the time, as well as displaying the fun, crazy personality of Caroline, who is fundamentally still a typical teenager at heart. The atmosphere of her bedroom is warm, comfortable and bursting with colour: one wall is plastered with photos, posters and post-its, which shows her love for photography. There are many bright, colourful lights hanging around the room and her bed is decorated with throw blankets as well as pom-pom pillows – these aspects, coupled with the small, personal touches (such as the Elvis DVDs), create a homely, safe and cosy atmosphere, which is important (especially towards the end), because it shows that Caroline’s place of comfort is her bedroom. Edward Hall ( the director) cleverly uses set to create a large impact on the audience; I particularly enjoyed the breaking away of the bedroom walls towards the end and the change in the stage level, because it changed the perspective, thus compounding the moment of realisation of what had happened.
Matt Haskins (the lighting director) was able to further emphasise the safe, comforting feeling of Caroline’s room by experimenting with Caroline's lava lamp and the warm glows of the fairy lights hanging over her bed and wardrobe, which contribute to the homely feel. These warmer colours are in contrast with the darker night sky seen through the skylights in the room, which creates the sense that Caroline and Anthony were in the safe, protective bubble of her room. Through these skylights, Haskins was able to play with the idea of time, because, as the play progressed, the light from outside became increasingly darker, as it started gently snowing and the image of a large, looming moon appeared. Although the falling of the snow was tranquil, the image of the moon seemed almost too big, towering over the two classmates, seemingly ominous and foreshadowing the ending. Additionally, Haskins used darker lighting to effectively show the transition in time; having seen the outcome of the story, it now makes sense to me why time seemed to be distorted and illogical - because Anthony seemed to stay with Caroline for a very long time.
It always amazes me how talented and versatile actors are, being able to act both for the screen and for the stage: although I And You is both Williams’s and Wyatt’s professional stage debuts, their performances were brilliant, due to their realistic and believable characterisations of complicated characters. Furthermore, it was truly impressive for only two actors to keep the energy up for the entirety of the play. One of the most intriguing aspects of the acting to me was the fact that the actors would sometimes turn their backs onto the audience, because as a drama student, I am always told to make sure that the audience can always see my face. However, this strengthened the intimate connection between the two characters and showed the audience a different point of view of their relationship - we were able to see small, subtle gestures, which would have otherwise been missed. As well as this, by turning away from the audience, the characters isolate themselves from the audience: for example, this emphasises the character of Caroline, because she is an impossible, bossy teenager, therefore wants to remain distant from human interaction, but, at the same time, she is also hurt and vulnerable, so this isolation from others shows that, after so long of having to be far away from others, she finds it hard to connect with people.
Throughout the play, the idea of life versus death is discussed, both through the poem by Whitman that Caroline and Anthony are studying, as well as through the perspectives of the characters, because Caroline has been ill, since birth, therefore, has a more pessimistic view on death. The play teaches us to cherish and appreciate life, as well as to never give up hope, because no one ever knows what the next day will bring. Another idea that is explored is friendship and how the strength of a friendship largely depends on what you choose to share, or not to share with the other person, because personal experiences often build a bond between people. This theme is further explored through the duo’s project on the use of pronouns in Whitman’s poem “Leaves on Grass”, which is inspiration for the title of the play I And You. The title also portrays the bond between Anthony and Caroline, because, throughout the whole storyline, it is only those two, being there for each other.
Overall, I And You is a cleverly crafted piece that will leave audiences shocked and make them walk out of the theatre with a changed perspective on the way we appreciate the people we have around us, because, as seen in the play, everything in our lives can drastically change very unexpectedly. One of the most profound messages that I took away was how much one person can impact someone else, even in death, without that person necessarily ever knowing. Gunderson is an extraordinary playwright for being able to feed the audience little clues all along the way, without giving the outcome away, and then finally allowing all the pieces to fall together with just one phrase. I would highly recommend this play to anyone who enjoys watching theatre, because of the beautiful, imaginative way messages can be portrayed to an audience.
The majority of the play is set in Caroline’s bedroom, which characterises the fact that she is stuck in her bedroom most of the time, as well as displaying the fun, crazy personality of Caroline, who is fundamentally still a typical teenager at heart. The atmosphere of her bedroom is warm, comfortable and bursting with colour: one wall is plastered with photos, posters and post-its, which shows her love for photography. There are many bright, colourful lights hanging around the room and her bed is decorated with throw blankets as well as pom-pom pillows – these aspects, coupled with the small, personal touches (such as the Elvis DVDs), create a homely, safe and cosy atmosphere, which is important (especially towards the end), because it shows that Caroline’s place of comfort is her bedroom. Edward Hall ( the director) cleverly uses set to create a large impact on the audience; I particularly enjoyed the breaking away of the bedroom walls towards the end and the change in the stage level, because it changed the perspective, thus compounding the moment of realisation of what had happened.
Matt Haskins (the lighting director) was able to further emphasise the safe, comforting feeling of Caroline’s room by experimenting with Caroline's lava lamp and the warm glows of the fairy lights hanging over her bed and wardrobe, which contribute to the homely feel. These warmer colours are in contrast with the darker night sky seen through the skylights in the room, which creates the sense that Caroline and Anthony were in the safe, protective bubble of her room. Through these skylights, Haskins was able to play with the idea of time, because, as the play progressed, the light from outside became increasingly darker, as it started gently snowing and the image of a large, looming moon appeared. Although the falling of the snow was tranquil, the image of the moon seemed almost too big, towering over the two classmates, seemingly ominous and foreshadowing the ending. Additionally, Haskins used darker lighting to effectively show the transition in time; having seen the outcome of the story, it now makes sense to me why time seemed to be distorted and illogical - because Anthony seemed to stay with Caroline for a very long time.
It always amazes me how talented and versatile actors are, being able to act both for the screen and for the stage: although I And You is both Williams’s and Wyatt’s professional stage debuts, their performances were brilliant, due to their realistic and believable characterisations of complicated characters. Furthermore, it was truly impressive for only two actors to keep the energy up for the entirety of the play. One of the most intriguing aspects of the acting to me was the fact that the actors would sometimes turn their backs onto the audience, because as a drama student, I am always told to make sure that the audience can always see my face. However, this strengthened the intimate connection between the two characters and showed the audience a different point of view of their relationship - we were able to see small, subtle gestures, which would have otherwise been missed. As well as this, by turning away from the audience, the characters isolate themselves from the audience: for example, this emphasises the character of Caroline, because she is an impossible, bossy teenager, therefore wants to remain distant from human interaction, but, at the same time, she is also hurt and vulnerable, so this isolation from others shows that, after so long of having to be far away from others, she finds it hard to connect with people.
Throughout the play, the idea of life versus death is discussed, both through the poem by Whitman that Caroline and Anthony are studying, as well as through the perspectives of the characters, because Caroline has been ill, since birth, therefore, has a more pessimistic view on death. The play teaches us to cherish and appreciate life, as well as to never give up hope, because no one ever knows what the next day will bring. Another idea that is explored is friendship and how the strength of a friendship largely depends on what you choose to share, or not to share with the other person, because personal experiences often build a bond between people. This theme is further explored through the duo’s project on the use of pronouns in Whitman’s poem “Leaves on Grass”, which is inspiration for the title of the play I And You. The title also portrays the bond between Anthony and Caroline, because, throughout the whole storyline, it is only those two, being there for each other.
Overall, I And You is a cleverly crafted piece that will leave audiences shocked and make them walk out of the theatre with a changed perspective on the way we appreciate the people we have around us, because, as seen in the play, everything in our lives can drastically change very unexpectedly. One of the most profound messages that I took away was how much one person can impact someone else, even in death, without that person necessarily ever knowing. Gunderson is an extraordinary playwright for being able to feed the audience little clues all along the way, without giving the outcome away, and then finally allowing all the pieces to fall together with just one phrase. I would highly recommend this play to anyone who enjoys watching theatre, because of the beautiful, imaginative way messages can be portrayed to an audience.