Marathon

Marathon, despite its name, is a pacy 55 minutes. The rhythm of the actors’ feet running on the stage gave this short two-hander a pulse that was at times quite hypnotic. The physically demanding nature of the play means that the audience, like the runners, are constantly propelled forward towards the finish line.

The premise of the play is simple. Two running mates are training for a marathon. They have agreed to run together every day without accepting any of the usual excuses, such as illness, weather, what has happened to the Volvo and why haven’t they passed the safety bollards yet? As they run, they talk. The dialogue is often disjointed, jumping between childhood memories, antagonism towards each other, old girl friends and their fathers’ soccer club.

The language is strong, the runners’ attitude is often misogynistic and there appears to be a lack of flow. However, without giving the ending away, it is the ending that ties the whole play together and makes sense retrospectively of what the audience has seen and heard during the performance.

The physical demands of this play are high and Cirillo and Vosvotekas manage them well. They have wisely concentrated on the acting and using the bare stage as their running track well. Both actors gave strong performances and Vosvotekas’ direction pulled out some nice physical comedy as well as delivering the few humorous lines well.

Marathon makes the audience think about the links with the original Marathon run by Pheidippides. The characters question whether or not there is a point to running a marathon. Is it something you do because you have to, either for an extrinsic or intrinsic reason? Or are we all in our own way running a marathon from the time we are born?

Sally Putnam