Revelation
Much is said, written and screened about the subject of domestic abuse, but in almost all cases referral is towards women and children.
Patrick Jones' Revelation lifts the lid on male victims, that band of unfortunate brothers who are usually either too ashamed or too proud to admit that they are being knocked about by their 'better halves'.
The Sprout's first viewing of the play was unfortunately cut short by a fire alarm incident at Chapter last summer, so we were glad to see Revelation in its entirety at Newport's Riverfront.
As a former victim of such behaviour, Jones bravely manages to transfer much of what he experienced into the relationship between Dionne (Stacey Daly) and Steve (Nathan Sussex).
Steve - a living embodiment of Oscar Wilde's statement that "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" - is living rough in a park. With only the night sky as his friend, he is apprehensive but flattered when homeless worker Dionne offers to take him in.
What starts as a gesture of mercy quickly turns to romance, and before long Dionne is pregnant. It's not clear whether Dionne's post-natal hormones are to blame, but she begins to display paranoia, which turns to verbal abuse and eventually harrowing violence.
Daly and Sussex have an intense chemistry that washes over the audience, especially when accompanied by James Dean Bradfield's soundtrack of simmering vocals and guitar, and psychotic aural stabs during attack scenes.
And the attack scenes... Jones doesn't scrimp on cruelty. Steve is belittled, slapped, force-fed, kicked into a ball on the floor and told he isn't the father of his child. No mean feat on a stage, but the two actors go deep into character for the 90-minute performance.
There's not much by way of closure come the end, but then how much closure do victims of abuse ever get?
