REAL Circumstance is a new company from the East of England, given rehearsal space and artistic support by York Theatre Royal.

Set up the Cambridge-educated Dan Sherer, a young director trained in the theatre verité of Mike Leigh at the National Theatre, Real Circumstance is so named because productions are performed in real time. In rehearsal and in performance, the performer is encouraged to respond to the prevailing circumstances.

Put in layman's terms, actress Caroline Williamson is faced by sound effects that change with each performance. So on Tuesday, she had to contend with the whiplash chill of rising winds, pulling her thin top tighter and commenting in improvised manner on the drop in temperature. Sherer's philosophy is fine in principle - theatre is flesh and blood and should be subject to change - but there is always the risk of unpredictability beyond the performer's control. On Tuesday, an audience member began to make strange noises before fainting and had to be led out by theatre staff: real circumstances that came at a crucial moment in the unbroken progress of Declan Feenan's Northern Irish narrative drama.

Williamson, in her professional debut, did what felt right amid the hubbub and that was to continue with the Catholic teenage tale of pregnancy, childbirth and rejection by an older, married man that has left 17-year-old Newry factory girl Claire in limbo on the edge of Camlough Lake.

Despite the distraction, Williamson retains the stillness of a minimalist solo performance that feels all the more alone for staying on the spot, restricting her movement to her arms and eyes.

At the outset, in the darkness of the lakeside represented by a thin metallic strip and the bubbling sound of water, she responds to the most beautifully sad choral music, the sweetest pain on her face. As the moonlight's reflection ripples across her face, so Williamson portrays the timid, naïve yet excited teenager recounting her first love, the age gap with the rest of the girls at the meat-packing factory and her relationship with the businessman twice her age. Shards of comedy break the doleful surface, but darkness descends once more as the shivering Claire says she feels the water rising around her feet. Williamson may have barely moved in one hour, but her soulful performance surely will move you.


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