28 Feb 2023
Deborah Heath is at the Abbey Theatre for a gritty cop drama.
The Abbey Theatre’s spring programme promises a marvellous mix of entertainment including comedy, drama and musicals. This weekend I was treated to an extremely thoughtful production of “The Incident Room,” a play not about the Yorkshire Ripper but the investigating team itself. I’m a sucker for crime drama of any type so was particularly excited!
The script, by Olivia Hirst and David Byrne, was clearly a result of painstaking research. However, it didn’t get bogged down by the facts – this is a pacey cop drama! It had the gritty vibe of “Life on Mars” with some well observed characters and even some well-judged jokes. What also pleased me enormously was the way it explored two time periods and the idea of replaying memories, fantasies and realities.
A great script needs a great cast and once again, Company of Ten delivered the goods. Each of the ten actors were strong throughout and if I had space to name them all I would.
A particularly shout out to Katy Robinson as Meg, whose Leeds accent was consistently brilliant. There was some lovely comic acting from Abbe Waghorn as Maureen Long and power oozed from Roger Bartlett as Dick Holland.
As ever, the CoT’s production values were superb. The 1970s set and props were was extremely well executed and sourced. A wider sense of space was created by using a back corridor wall which gave the impression of an entire police station at work. There was good use of projection using period images to set the scene.
The only thing that could have possibly made the experience better for me would have been to stage the play in a more intimate space or perhaps in the round to make the action even more hard hitting.
However, this is a personal preference and I am sure that CoT had strong reasons for staging the play on the main stage rather than the studio. It still worked extremely well.
“The Incident Room” not only tells us the personal and professional stories of the main police officers involved in the case but really challenges the audience to think about women’s rights.
In 1975, as a result of the Sex Discrimination Act and four years before the case began, women were fully integrated into the UK police force.
As the action of the story unfolds it becomes clear that there is still a long way to go with male police officers such as Andy Laptew (Guy Conroy-Smith) being promoted more easily than Meg Winterburn.
Furthermore the advice being sent out to women across the North to “stay at home” rather than risk being killed must have been a frustrating message.
Of course, the story of the Yorkshire Ripper and disappearing women has a sad resonance with recent events in the UK so this play was thought proving on many levels. No doubt this was a reason for director Tina Swain choosing the play but growing up in the North must have given her the extra level of engagement that really shone through in her direction.
In staging, “The Incident Room,” Company of Ten have proved once again that they are capable of choosing an entertaining yet challenging script and realising it with a high production, directing and acting levels. Well done to the whole team both on and off stage. Please do try to catch the final week of this highly engaging piece of theatre – it is a compelling production!
