Stockholm

Stockholm
By Bryony Lavery. Director: Tanya Gerstle. Red Stitch Actors Theatre. April 27 - May 26, 2012.

Stockholm begins with Todd (Brett Cousins) seated with his back to girlfriend Kali (Luisa Hastings-Edge). She reaches behind her and wraps her hands around his face creating a mask for him with her elegant fingers. It's a seductive gesture and a fitting metaphor for a relationship in which cruelty and desire, beauty and pain are intertwined. Written by British dramatist Bryony Lavery, Stockholm alludes to the mysterious phenomenon 'Stockholm Syndrome', in which trapped victims develop positive feelings towards their captors. Many people would find it hard to understand how you could grow to like or admire the very person who is enslaving and mistreating you. It is in this difficult territory that Stockholm unfolds.

Todd and Kali seem to have it all. They have renovated a house, celebrate birthdays with a getaway to Europe (Stockholm, to be specific), they're good-looking, watch art-house movies and appear to have a great sex life. Why then do we see them inflicting damage on each other? There are clues in the set design, which gives the renovated house a sinister, otherworldly look. I walked into the theatre thinking it was set at the bottom of a swimming pool, with a ladder going up at the back. A large fish dangles and drips from a hook at stage left, and a collection of sharp knives is mounted on a wall. This is not a warm, inviting place, and as Todd and Kali's physicality becomes more violent, it's not a place we want to step into.

Still, Cousins and Hastings-Edge are superb and convincing as a couple that alternate between a caress and a cage-fight. They don't flinch at the physical and mental challenges of their roles, and make a smooth transition from a couple in love to trapped and damaged people.

In one telling scene, after they have both pushed each other to extremes, Todd explains that people on the outer wouldn't understand how attractive the violence is. It's as though hurting each other makes them feel more alive. This leads to the one problem I have with stories like this: an abusive relationship is not attractive, nor should it be. Also, why should we care about two people who mistreat each other like this? Stockholm doesn't really have the answers. But Cousins and Hastings-Edge will have you spellbound with the questions.

Sara Bannister

Images: Brett Cousins and Luisa Hastings Edge. Photographer: Jodie Hutchinson

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