Posted in: Current News, Pop Culture | Tagged: Lost Watches, William S Burroughs

Lost Watches, As William S Burroughs Dances On Stage For Your Pleasure

Lost Watches, performed at the Park Theatre in London, reunites director Alex Helfrecht with the play's writer/star, Lorenzo Allchurch.

Lost Watches is a new play that is currently being performed at the Park Theatre in Finsbury, London. Directed by Alex Helfrecht, best known by Bleeding Cool readers for directing the 2016 sci-fi/fantasy film The White King, it reunited her with the star of that film, a much younger Lorenzo Allchurch, who, now at the age of 23, has written and stars in this play.

And he is Allen, a young man of good fortune, or rather was of good fortune, who talks to the bust of William S Burroughs as carved from stone by his dead mother and voiced by Jason Isaacs, also part of A Winter's Tale. This is Saltburn with less sex and more sculpture. It is a play about excess, of wealth, or privilege, and how none of that protects you from trauma, from your own head or from death. Mo' money, mo' problems, I get it, even as much as my body screams that I would at least like the chance to experience that problem for myself. There was a butler I once knew in Oxford. Well, he was no longer a butler, but he still was, if you know what I mean. The lord of the estate, without a family, left the entire kaboodle to his manservant of many years. Meant as a generous gift, the weight and responsibility of the expectation and debts that came with it crippled him, as well as the guilt when it all came crashing down.

Lost Watches is a take on that kind of experience, but it mirrors the expectations that society has of all of us, or that we think it does, as the madnesses that we all seek refuge in, to comfort and cope. I often talk to friends and family when they are not there, occasionally out loud. Allen, played by the play's writer Lorenzo Allchurch, just happens to talk to William S Burroughs. A man whose beliefs in the occult might have been justified if this reality is to be believed. And it is Allen, who has taken on the burden of this English family estate, and the debts that accompany it, even though his father is still in the picture, having evaded responsibilities and duties of family and fortune. Allen, his son, will end up doing the same, through rather more drastic means. It is to his credit that I didn't end up hating this overprivileged shit, lounging around in a silk dressing gown, talking to mid-twentieth-century American literary figures and in need of a right slap. But his smiling through the pain stopped me from wanting to do that; Allen would probably have welcomed such attention and would have changed not a wit about his actions. Something inside him welcomes the pain and the punishment from his parents, his siblings, the state and life. He believes he deserves it. The play's trick is convincing us that he does not.

It is actor Gabriella Moran, from both Alex Helfrecht's NYET! – a Brexit UK Border Farce and upcoming A Winter's Journey, who has the strongest stage presence in this production, as she gets to play the broadest strokes. As Allen's mother, then sister, then father, she possesses the space she struts in, with these very distinct figures sharing the same face. She has a natural air of confidence in each character. Imagine Sarah Ferguson coming home to her estate, owning it all, free of bothersome princes. Whichever character she is, Allen can't help but play second fiddle in those moments; whoever he stands up to, he ultimately fails. And the truth of the characters fills in the world around Allen, giving her actions more context but never diminishing his own responsibility for them. The watch was never lost; it was stolen. Allen stole it, then had it stolen from him. And that is reflected across the entire play.

Leah Aspden has a seemingly smaller role, but gets so much out of it. Mostly as PC Dread, a Judge Dredd reference that gets an immediate laugh, but convincingly portrays power from a small frame. And then flips that on its head as the physical form of William S Burroughs in stone, a massive frame with only the power of words. Because yes, this is a statue that can dance. She is immediately engaging on stage, someone who Allen wants to please, and his own fantasies about her are as ridiculous as they are about Burroughs.

As a play, the stagecraft is impeccable, and the lighting, projection, and spotlight effects make the most of the small space and truly transport the audience. The merging of starlight through the window with the glitter and smoke on the stage, used very occasionally, creates an experience that smoothly glides from one reality or fantasy to the other. You will believe a bust can dance, but more importantly, interact with everyone else on stage just as effortlessly.

A non-linear play that befits Burrough's cut-up approach, with reality and fantasy competing for attention, Lost Watches is a tragedy, but ensconced in a lightness of tone that I would compare to Terry Gilliam's Brazil, even if it is a whole world and medium away. This is is a play that will sit very differently with members of the audience, depending on their own lives and life experiences, over who or what they will find sympathetic or empathetic. Or even what they want in a play. I particularly enjoyed one argument I heard from a couple heading back to Finsbury Park tube station afterwards. One saying, how nice and happy the ending was and how that made a nice change, the other one baffled, shouting about how horrible it was. What is fantasy, what is reality, debated as they walked past the Starbucks and betting shops. I get the feeling there will be plenty more arguments to come.

Lost Watches runs at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, London, until the 23rd of August.

Lost Watches

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Review by Rich Johnston

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8/10

Allen, a young man of good fortune, or rather was of good fortune, talks to the bust of William S Burroughs as carved from stone by his dead mother. This is Saltburn with less sex and more sculpture. It is a play about excess, of wealth, or privilege, and how none of that protects you from trauma, from your own head or from death.

Credits

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Writer

Lorenzo Allchurch

Director

Alex Helfrecht

Actor

Lorenzo Allchurch

Actor

Gabriella Moran

Actor

Leah Aspden

Actor

Jason Isaacs

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