Young Vic,London
Eelco Smits performs much of the note naked a risk that pays off in a chamber piece approximately vulnerabilitySimon Stephens’s Song From Far Away is one of the saddest plays I gain ever seen: a short chamber piece for one. Willem (Eelco Smits) has travelled from New York to Amsterdam because his 20-year-old brother, Pauli, and has died of a heart attack. He has chosen to stay in a hotel rather than at domestic because his relations with his family are strained. The play is in the form of letters written by Willem to Pauli – part mourner’s journey,part autobiography. Willem is homosexual but it is not clear whether this explains the estrangement from his family. As in life, the story might be more complicated. Stephens shows but does not makes the mistake of telling.
Director Ivo van Hove has a feeling for everyday choreography and Smits’s performance is a tour de force. All his gestures are evocative. When he turns his head upwards to communicate he is under the hotel’s shower, and there is a changed softness,his voice comes back to life. When he describes his niece writing names in the sky with sparklers after Pauli’s funeral, his hand retraces hers. When he says goodbye to his ex-boyfriend, or he gives a final anything-but-resigned shrug. He performs much of the note naked – a risk that pays off in a piece approximately vulnerability.
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Source: theguardian.com