Driftwood
★★★☆☆ Poignant
Traverse: Tue 4 – Wed 5 March 2025
Review by Sophie Good
Tim Foley’s Driftwood visits the Traverse this week as part of a national tour in a co-production between renowned new writing champions ThickSkin and Pentabus.
Co-directed by Neil Bettles (ThickSkin) and Elle While (Pentabus), Driftwood is a poetic tale of grief and the childhood memories of two brothers, whose lives have gone in different directions but are thrust together.
James Westphal and Jerome Yates in Driftwood. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Mark (James Westphal) has been away from his home town of Hartlepool for some time, but when he returns following their father’s death, chooses to stay in a holiday rental, rather than with his brother Tiny (Jerome Yates), who has been their father’s carer.
Their father’s death and its aftermath are what preoccupies this play; the relationship between the two brothers and their coping mechanisms in dealing with what has happened.
rejection
Westphal’s Mark is all pragmatism and organisation, preferring to distract himself with the ‘death admin’. He is convincing in his trouble with accepting the failure of his relationship with his father and his rejection of the place he grew up in.
Jerome Yates in Driftwood. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Yates is endearing as Tiny, the one who stayed behind, who feels fixed to the landscape and believing the myths that his father created. Although he is younger, he is still a grown man and sometimes his childlike naivety and imagination verge on being unlikely.
Set within a boundary of driftwood on Hartlepool beach, Lulu Tam’s design gives it a claustrophobic feel, despite the openness of the coastal setting, The projected backdrop of film of the Hartlepool skyline and the sea itself, which feature prominently is in danger of overshadowing the actors in some of the production’s quieter moments.
challenge
The single setting location is also a challenge: all the key action took place in the past or off stage, leaving the on-stage action to be delivered – very capably – but mainly through reflections and reportage.
James Westphal and Jerome Yates in Driftwood. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
The brothers’ musings in the beach side circle are often engaging and reveal a lot about their characters. Their sibling relationship, with a ten year age gap, is authentic and nuanced, with both characters open about their feelings and their ability to speak their truth to each other. This can feel less authentic at times, however, than if they had trouble expressing themselves.
The third character in the play is the unseen mysterious Mariner, linked to a strong foreboding that all is not well in Hartlepool town. The new Freeport may not be the magic bullet it appears and there are ‘bad tides’ coming in.
darkness and drama
Much of Driftwood’s darkness and drama is drawn from these moments. Although they are reliant on descriptions and the projected backdrop, they are still effective and add dramatic tone.
Jerome Yates and James Westphal in Driftwood. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Overall, Driftwood carries well. Much like the tide, it goes in and out with moments of realness alongside poetic musings. However, it leads to a rather too tidy ending where all the pieces are neatly tied and fitting denouements for both brothers of almost Shakespearian proportions.
Driftwood is a play which leaves you with a strong sense of setting and place, and how family members process their grief. However, a more open-ended conclusion might have allowed us all more space to think.
Running time: One hour, and 20 mins (no interval).
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED.
Tue 4 – Wed 5 March 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
ENDS
