The Shelley Theatre, Boscombe
Thursday 19th of September, 2013
Is everybody who falls victim to a violent death a hero, does a victim of a senseless murder deserve to be raised to some kind of a sainthood? Death of a Model Citizen challenges media driven labels given to victims of violence in an uncomfortable hour and challenges these notions of who is a ‘good’ victim, an ‘undeserving’ victim.
Myles Trehearn returns to the woodland where he was kicked to death by three yobs to discover that the flowers left at the site are accompanied by messages describing him as ‘the best, ‘too good for this world’ and a ‘wonderful husband and father’. What the audience finds out in the ensuing monologue from Myles’ ghost is a far more complex and compelling story of his adult life than the tabloid inspired clichés of a ‘have a go hero’ or the epigrammatic ‘model citizen’. All the frailties of a very human, middle class, marketing consultant are laid bare in an intimate and compelling portrayal of an ordinary life are celebrated in this intimate and, sometimes, harrowing piece of theatre.
The writer, John Foster, has written a play which directly confronts the mawkishness of tabloid journalism and the feeding frenzy of sentimentality and outrage which is the de rigueur accompaniment to the reporting of the victims of violence; just as long as the victims are white, middle class and identifiable as being ‘innocent’. The main character asks direct questions both of the physical audience and of imagined characters of neighbours and family that are somewhere off stage. I found this aspect of the play both effective and eerie and a sense of discomfort was tangible with in the audience.
Played superbly as a single-hander by Jon Nicholas the character of Myles confesses to a less than model life and, again, invites the audience to decide whether he is indeed a ‘hero’, or a ‘model citizen’ and at no point did I feel that the device of being spoken to by a ghost was in anyway fantastic or unbelievable. The physicality of Jon’s performance was such that the recreation of his kicking was so believable and so violent that even a seasoned hack such as me felt like a witness to the event rather than an audience member. Jon Nicholas inhabited the part of Myles to such a degree that it was hard to not jump on the stage and ‘rescue’ him from the beating played out in front of us. One began to feel every imagined kick, every reported insult and every act of humiliation and degradation felt by Myles. Yet, despite the violence and the ordinariness of Myles we also had flashes of humour from the character; self deprecating analyses of his own failings and foibles.
The stage set was simple and effective and the use of real leaf mulch and minimalist props added to the sense of banality of the murder which occurred and director Sharon Coyne used the compact nature of the theatre and the open space of the stage to further give the audience a sense of the voyeur and witness rather than the passivity of simply watching a play.
Death of a Model Citizen is everything a satire should be; discomforting? Yes. Compelling? Yes. Thought provoking? Yes.
Reviewed by Bob Hill
