HELEN should be a name that launched a thousand trips, if the performance of The Clearing I saw at Birm- ingham Rep, is anything to go by.
Ms Edmundsen's play, which was staged by the touring Shared Experience company, was the most thrilling piece of theatre I have seen in weeks: passionate, intelligent, engaged with large themes and their consequence on real lives, it was played to perfection by a uniformly excellent cast.
Set in Cromwellian Ireland in 1652, it centres on the fortunes of a young English landowner, Robert Preston and his Irish wife, whose lives are torn apart when the brutal transportation of Irish farmers and former Royalists from their land begins. A decent man, he wants to do the right thing but becomes more and more complicit with evil as the English authorities demand increasing proof of his loyalty.
It seems unfair to single out star performances from such a fine ensemble, but especially impressive was Richard Attlee as Sir Charles Sturman, and Joseph Millson (Preston) - a name to watch out for. PW
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