Review: The Bounds, Royal Court Theatre - peculiar and perplexing
18/06/2024
Stewart Pringle's play The Bounds at the Royal Court Theatre upstairs is set in 1553. It's the day of a much-anticipated football game between two rival Northumberland villages.
But this isn't football as we now know it; Tudor football is played over a sprawling area, it's violent, and it lasts as long as it takes for there to be a winner.
Percy (Ryan Nolan) and Rowan (Lauren Waine) are positioned on one of the very outer edges of the game, keeping an eye out for any sign of play coming their way. Then Sam (Saroosh Lavasani) turns up. Neither Percy nor Rowan really know who he is or why he is there.
In the introduction to the play text, Stewart Pringle describes The Bounds as the most peculiar play he's written, and as it progresses, it becomes evident why.
The opening scene of banter between Percy and Rowan about the previous year's games and what might happen at this one is full of witty lines, but the football game eventually becomes a background accompaniment to other things going on.
In 1553, the boy-king Edward VI was on the throne, and his advisors were instigating a wholesale purging of what was left of Catholicism—finishing what Henry VIII, Edward's father, had started.
We see the impact of this through the attitude of Percy and Rowan to Catholics, particularly when the reality of Protestant landgrabs hits home.
The Bounds also touches on the misogynistic treatment of women and labels like 'witch'. There are themes of friendship and loyalty. It also has supernatural elements and a strange boy, played here by Harry Weston, who pops up with slightly cryptic messages.
There is violence, but not all of it is contained within the football match.
There is a great rapport between Ryan Nolan and Lauren Waine as the two old friends, particularly in their opening banter. There is something reminiscent of Estragon and Vladimir in Waiting for Godot.
However, this is a peculiar play, starting off funny and growing increasingly weird. It is hard to get a handle on, and while that can sometimes work in a play if the overall journey is fun and interesting, this left me increasingly perplexed.
There is no big reveal that would bring everything together. The early scenes hold a lot of promise, but Stewart Pringle's play ends up being about a lot of different things and focusing on nothing in particular.
I'm giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Bounds, Royal Court Theatre (upstairs)
Written by Stewart Pringle.
Directed by Jack McNamara
Starring: Soroosh Lavasani, Ryan Nolan and Lauren Waine
Running time: 90 minutes without an interval
Booking until 13 July; for more information and to buy tickets, visit the Royal Court Theatre's website.
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