“Cockroach Waltz” at The Greenwich Playhouse
31st October – November 26th 2006

Last week I rode the “ DLR rail in “Peter Pan” style across the rooftops of East London on my way to attend the Press night of the Cockroach Waltz , a play written by Katerina Curtis and put on at the Greenwich Playhouse. I thought it was possibly going to be another Fringe Theatre productions of the kind which often fill the seats upstairs in the Royal Court Theatre and tend to start with a few “fucks, shit ” and other choice words which extract laughter and hook the audience for the remainder of the performance. There was quite a lot of “f….ing” type words and plenty of basic crudeness but these were appropriate and essential to the play’s existence as opposed to the often gratuitous use of such words in theatres which put on “fringe” plays and often owe their survival and continued existence on the audience’s desire to be seen “cool and with it” even though they might be politically correct and would never utter such blasphemies of the English language in private and would be shocked to hear them in the street.

My apprehension was ill founded because I was pleasantly surprise. Not only did I experience a truly thought producing two hours of theatre but I was also entertained. I forgot about my personal problems and became absorbed with the predicaments and dilemmas portrayed by the actors which is what the theatre is all about. The play was in fact more than just a theatrical piece because the plot and denouement are interwoven with film footage to help create the mental dichotomy of a personal doppelganger or alter ego which the two main characters suffer from. Personally I was slightly distracted when the film footage was projected back of stage although perhaps that is because I am old fashioned when it comes to the Arts and the Theatre.

The story line is riveting and follows the relationship between a somewhat cruel and sadistic Professor ( Charles) who has a relationship with a young student ( Bella ) who worships him and becomes obsessed with him. Unfortunately she doesn’t grow out of the groupie stage of her personal development and for many years Charles deliberately continues to play with and manipulate her emotions as she slowly sinks down into the dark abysmal depths where the neurotic and insane are natural denizens. For many years after she is forced to leave the college where she met the professor they communicate only by phone. Living with her mother(Yolanda).

Bella becomes more and more neurotic and emotionally sick until finally her soul is lost in the labyrinth of the subconscious inner mind which develops into a kind of “unrequited love schizophrenia” Slowly her physical and mental state deteriorate until she lacks sufficient pride to even wash her hair and keep herself clean. Her ultimate personal squalor is indicated by the Cockroaches which have the run of her bedroom with Bella’s approval.

Bella’s problems aren’t improved by her mother who is preoccupied with excessive vanity and an over active interest ( for her age) in her sexuality . So engrossed with her own superficial life , she gives her daughter no support as Bella develops towards the final darkness of a severe mental illness. Yolanda even makes love to the Professor when he comes to see Bella after an absence of 13 years which doesn’t help Bella’s condition and fragments her mind even more.

The cast consists of three people; Bella, the student played by Helena Mitchell , the Professor, Charles played by Iain Dootson , and the mother Yolanda, played by Karen Mc Caffrey. They all give excellent performances although if I had to award an Oscar I would give it to Helena Mitchell who takes us from the lively bubbling teenager with a harmless crush on her professor through bizarre neurotic behaviour patterns which end with a complete transition into the dark world of insanity from which there is no escape. Perhaps the saddest thing is that even in her worst state she unsuccessfully begs Charles to give her a baby. Each subtle change of Bella’s mental state was brilliantly portrayed with a reality that was as disturbing as Helena’s portrayal was convincing. The only criticism I have of Bella’s personality was that in the first scene, the bubbling teenager already portrayed signs of mental imbalance as opposed to a simple teenage crush which should have been the most dominant impression.

It would have had greater effect if the original Bella had been more the immature student before undergoing a mental metamorphoses and physical morphing from fresh clean teenager to a dirty, bitter, twisted and deranged adult. This is not so much a criticism of Helena’s acting, as it is perhaps a different nuance and perspective of an ex Thespian and frustrated director!

The final tragedy is something that the audience must experience themselves so I won’t say any more. The play was well written and well directed by Katerina Curtis which was an important aspect because, even if the writer has a relatively comprehensive understanding of the complexities of the human mind, it doesn’t mean to say that a Director will extract the essence of the work and reflect the playwright’s imagination and observation which gave birth to the work in the first place. With such a play, both the Playwright and the Director should have an equal understanding of the mental convolutions which human beings can experience when the educated mind goes off line and enters the 80 per cent part of the brain which we don’t use and is obviously the seat of all mental illness and weird neurotic behaviour. It also has to be said that without the incredible empathetic ability of the cast to absorb and reflect their characters, it could have been a difficult theme to portray. Even Yolanda’s brilliant Greek accent had me fooled and helped convince me that the play was real and drew me irrevocably into two hours of virtual reality.

I recommend the Cockroach Waltz as good entertainment especially for people who appreciate the theatre for the difference between what they thought they knew when they took their seat and what they understand when they leave their seats after the final curtain. The cockroach is a good play which made me think , feel empathy and perhaps understand better the tragedy of less fortunate people who suffer a neurotic sensitivity which takes them away from life’s reality.