Habagat

Habagat is a tropical island but it's no paradise for the four Victorian sisters left alone when their father dies.

At least they've got a large banana box to act as his coffin but problems then loom large when they find his will and it states that he insists on being returned to England for burial. So they wait for the supply ship that will take him while the heat and rain strain their sisterly feelings to the limit.

The four young actresses who make up Curious & Company have devised a play for themselves that mixes drama and comedy and finally moves into melodrama. Some of the shifts are awkward, the comedy never seems quite at home with the heavy atmosphere built up by the lighting and sound. The language too shifts between 19th Century formal and 21st Century casual and it's never quite clear if this is deliberate or not.

However when it takes a sudden turn into melodrama it all begins to grip. Apart from the rather awkward back-story filling in of father's real history, which needs to be broken up more for its final revelation to have the proper impact, it then races along at gathering speed to its sound and fury climax. The tension grows tighter and tighter thanks to the convincingly unnerving sound effects and the sisters' reactions to them.

The group work well together, seeming a family even though each sister is very different. Hetty Abbott is convincingly feral as Miriam, the wild child; Jo Ayre is nicely uptight as Lizzie, she makes a splendid drunk too; Julie Tallis endows Sophia with great steadfastness as she fights to hold onto both her island and her ideals; Jane Angharad bubbles with optimism as youngest sister Constance, even while quaking with fear.

It's by no means a perfect play but it looks good and the heady atmosphere and committed performances make for an absorbing and enjoyable sixty five minutes of theatrical storytelling.