Review: York St John Graduate Prize 2012: Journey to Karawane and Letters to Yseult

By Alex Gordon.

The York Theatre Royal Studio was originally conceived as a room for workshops and performances of a more experimental kind. It seemed fitting then that tonight it played host to a double-bill of two devised pieces, created and performed by three students who are this year’s receivers of the York St John Graduate Prize, awarded annually (since 2011) to students in their final year of studying Theatre at York St John University.

They are then given the chance, under guidance from the Theatre’s Associate Director Juliet Forster, to take a short play they have created as part of their degree and re-work it for a public performance. An opportunity that should make students on the equivalent theatre course at York University shiver with envy.

The first play, Journey to Karawane, follows ‘The King’ (Joel Dean) and his noble steed, ‘Horse’ (Adam Ekin) on their journey to…well, Karawane. Although the play revealed as much about the plot as the title does, evidently this was not the point as, in part homage and part pastiche of Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, we watch two lonely, slightly unhinged individuals pass the time on their journey by playing several equally off-the-wall characters in a series of games and sketches.

Though at times slap-dash in its construction, the play had some amusing, Pythonesque moments and some well-thought out jokes. As Dean’s character points out, ‘Baffling people can be fun,’ and what’s more, they can enjoy being baffled. Dean and Akin’s performances however, were perhaps not quite strong enough to make their Pozzo-Lucky relationship entirely convincing. It could be hilarious and thought-provoking if its creators refined their material and their performances more carefully.

Letters to Yseult could not have provided a more different change of tone to the evening. Performed solo by its author, Richard Wade, we are taken on a journey through the old ‘Tristanian’ Legend – the love of a Cornish Knight, Tristan, for an Irish Princess, Iseult – told from Tristan’s perspective in a modern context, with Wade convincingly inhabiting a host of characters along the way.

It is unusual, intriguing, romantic, funny and heart-breaking. Wade’s versatility must be commended as he took us from comic-highs, such as when Tristan drunkenly performs Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’ dance, to heart-shattering lows when Tristan, blinded by an assassin, his face smeared by crushed berries for blood, dies thinking that his beloved Yseult has abandoned him. Music was also used to great effect, as Wade both sang and played guitar, his lyrics introducing us to, and resolving the story.

This was an engaging and vibrant story told by a youthful, energetic performer, and I sincerely hope he finds the opportunity for it to grow and reach audiences beyond York. Perhaps next year’s Edinburgh Fringe would be ideal?

The evening proved an interesting and eclectic mix, with a post-show talk revealing as much about the actors as about their plays. Perhaps their characters, who all share a common thread in their loneliness and their questioning of their own situations are simply, as Akin puts it, ‘extensions of ourselves.’

Hear Alex's full audio review this Sunday at 2 on YorWorld.