MA Directors at the BAC

Caught the first of the MA directors show at the BAC last night Ali Anderson-Dyer has done some very fine work on Philip Ridley's dystopian play The Fastest Clock in the Universe. It's a tough piece to tackle given the financial and logistical challenges of the final project - but I felt real promise in the work and a sense that everything was in place. Of course University projects are always held back by limited runs, tiny budgets and lack of time to rehearse in the playing space - but the story was confidently told and the acting for the most part free from clunks.

The play itself is interesting and very clever, but I think falls just short of being brilliant. I saw the revival of it at Hampstead last September and although I really enjoyed the skillful characterisation and Gothic atmosphere I couldn't help feeling that once you've understood the central idea that love and time are direct rivals in the affairs of man that the plot thins and the end is overdrawn.

The mood at Battersea was good though with Ali's fellow directors breaking off from rehearsals to give her first night support and a handful of undergraduates holding off summer to gain experience teching and crewing the show.

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