Beyond Measure and Lough/Rain, York Theatre Royal Studio

10:19am Friday 3rd October 2008

NOT so much a double bill of new plays – although you have to pay twice, too – as four plays.

Bridget Foreman’s Beyond Measure carries on the story of Isabella after Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure ends. The better of the two, Lough/Rain, is described as “two plays interwoven as one” by Declan Feenan and Clara Brennan.

Director Juliet Forster uses every multi-media device available, including music and film, to break the word-heavy text of Beyond Measure as Rina Mahoney – whose company, Back & Forth, presents the play – must decide on which path her life will take.

She could be a nun or perhaps a duchess, or perhaps she’ll find a third possibility to solve a problem not named Maria, but Isabella. To which of her three suitors will she surrender her virginity?

Despite Mahoney’s best efforts in attacking the text, which is written in blank verse using modern language, there’s not much ebb and flow. It’s full-on from start to finish, making you feel like you’re under verbal attack.

Lough/Rain, on the other hand, is spare and sparse and consequently absolutely riveting. Both performers, Jot Davies and Kate Donmall, were nominated for acting awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where this Real Circumstance production premiered, and it’s easy to understand why.

It starts with a normal day in the life of Michael and Caoimhe, with little hint of the terrible things to come that will result in the other half of the drama, where we slowly come to realise what tragedy has befallen the couple.

Davies, in particular, is brilliant at conveying Michael’s new condition. Dan Sherer’s production, unlike Beyond Measure, is also unafraid of silences. They provide some of the most telling moments in this gripping piece of theatre.

■ Until Saturday. Beyond Measure, 7.45pm, followed by Lough/Rain, 9.30pm.

Tickets 01904-623568 or online www.yorktheatre royal.co.uk