Lakeside Theatre / University of Essex / Escalator East To Edinburgh
This intricate, fast-paced piece explores the nature of sacrifice and the boundary between faith and madness, ultimately leaving the audience with a set unanswered questions. Tensions simmer as a family gathers to celebrate Ascension Day on a remote hillside, their motivations and relationships are at times ambiguous and contradictory, as exasperation fuels sexual desire and violence is justified as spiritual guidance. Potential weapons and cringingly provocative comments stack up with improbable speed. Whilst this stoking of suspense feels unsubtle at times, it is certainly effective, and the characters' myriad complexities and alienating unpredictability make any outcome seem possible. As a result, the dénouement leaves a deep sense of unease, more troubling, thought provoking and lingering than any desired catharsis.
Zoo Roxy, 5 – 29 (not 15, 22), 3.30pm (4.55pm), £8.00 - £10.00, fpp253.
tw rating 4/5
Even within the complex issues the play explores, the family is utterly believable with small bickerings over flavours of crisps and purchases bought on eBay, and the entire cast are strong throughout. Nathan Wright as prodigal son Ollie and Jamie Wallwork as Tony are particularly harrowing, while David Tarkenter’s religiously intense Huw is striking. The entire cast shows strong conviction in their work with complete understanding of the issues at hand, presenting a story well thought out and with compassion.
The set, lighting, and sound design work in perfect harmony to create a visually stunning and atmospheric woodland setting for the story. Along with the staging, the design creates an air of tension that remains throughout and builds to a climax as the religious extremism takes wind and the play progresses.
..................................
14/08/2011
Festmag ★★★★
By Jonathan Holmes
It’s Ascension Day, and a reverent family of Welsh lumberjacks await the apocalypse. Their vigil is interrupted by two arrivals: one, a lost son, the other, an immigrant and atheist. With
Darkness, Fringe First winner Jonathan Lichtenstein explores religious fundamentalism, asking why God always seems to demand we sacrifice our family. Lichtenstein intelligently synthesises Bible stories and wrenching family drama. He mostly resists didacticism, keeping the focus on Earthly matters and Earthly consequences. The proclamations and chainsaw-swinging testosterone are undercut by bathetic humour: apocalyptic prophecies interrupted by arguments about crisps and eBay.
The cast are assured. They all have to shout an awful lot, and quote a fair amount of scripture, but you believe they are a family. This authenticity is vital, making you realise this isn’t about religion so much as how people wield it over others. David Tarkenter deserves particular praise as the patriarch and would-be prophet, but each actor brings their own, unspoken stories to their characters.
Indeed,
Darkness is at its best when dealing with the unseen and unsaid. Some of its more on-the-nose elements rankle. The returning, bearded son could do with looking less messianic and initially, Yann the Muslim immigrant doesn’t register properly, partly due to an unconvincing accent. The play's programme listing also includes misleading references to George W Bush, an example of mission creep that the play doesn’t need and can’t support.
But these are minor complaints. Overall, this is a disturbing examination of the sins of a father, and how he inflicts them on his sons.
..................................
Joshua Hayes is currently rehearsing the Lakeside Theatre’s new production of Darkness a new play by fringe first winning writer Jonathan Lichtenstein. The production will be performed throughout the Edinburgh festival at the Zoo Roxy’s loft venue and Josh recently took the time out of his rehearsals on Essex University campus to answer a few questions for us about the project.
Alright Josh?
Now then Kieran lad!
What can you tell us about Darkness?
It’s a brilliant new play, by a fantastic writer, brought to the stage by visionary director Gari Jones, and features a superb ensemble cast. If I may say so myself!
High Praise! What’s it about?
Its about a family in Wales, and their relationship with religion and how it affects their relationships with each other. It is quite dark and sinister, as you’d imagine from the title, but has some funny and moving moments which balance it out nicely.
Is it exciting being at the start of a new project?
Absolutely! The source material is brilliant, Jonathan [Lichtenstein] has given us a really strong platform to build on. We were lucky enough to have had a rehearsed reading at Pulse festival a few weeks ago and the positive reaction from the audience has helped fuel the excitement surrounding the project. Also its quite a relevant subject given our ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and things like Harold Camping’s recent predictions about the date of the Rapture.
How are the rehearsals going?
So far very good, we are in the process of getting it up on its feet. I think the cast and I are just enjoying finding the characters and exploring the relationships. We as a cast are getting on great, and the relaxed atmosphere in the room makes the process so much more fulfilling. Whats interesting about the play is that a lot of the fractures in the relationships occur before the start of it and the period in which the piece takes place is when everything comes to a head.
You’ve been to Edinburgh before, how will this trip compare to the last?
It makes me even more excited if I’m honest. Because when I went before I was still a student and I didn’t really know what it was all about, and now I know what to expect I am looking forward to it even more. I managed to see some great things at the Zoo Roxy last time as well and I am now really excited to be performing there myself.
..................................
14 - 16 December 2011
07 December 2011
06 December 2011 
Monday 5 December
02 December 2011
01 - 17 December 2011 
25 November 2011 
19 November 2011
Tuesday, November 15 
14 November 2011 
12 November 2011 
03 November 2011
31 October 2011
Set on an Essex estate Fish Tank follows the life of Mia, a fifteen year old girl with a fiery temperament and a love of hip-hop dance, as she struggles to assert herself against a suffocating home life. Featuring an astonishing debut performance from Katie Jarvis and beautiful cinematography that renders Essex urban life in an incredible new light, the film won the Jury Prize at Cannes and a Bafta Award for Best British Film.
Fresh from a hugely successful run at the Edinburgh Festival, Lakeside Theatre are proud to present Darkness. 
Venue: Lakeside Theatre 
★★★
Lyn Gardner 
Darkness, a new play by Jonathan Lichtenstein, is a full-bodied, devastating exploration of religious fundamentalism in a tight-knit family. In rural Wales, a family prepares to celebrate Ascension Day, the day Jesus was said to have been taken up into Heaven. The father, Huw (David Tarkenter), who operates a tree-clearing business, believes he is hearing the voice of God. Carol (Barbara Peirson), the mother, is still mourning her missing son Ollie (Nathan Wright), who left the family 'nine months and eight days' ago after a violent 'accident'. One of three sons, Dan (Joshua Hayes), is increasingly disturbed by his hyper-masculine, patriarchal environment. Daughter Caitlyn (Emma Jane Connell) is nervously trying to introduce her Croatia-born boyfriend Yann (Kieran Knowles) to the family. Yann's presence angers brother Tony (Jamie Wallwork), who also hears the voice of God, but whose feelings for his sister are not wholly brotherly.
I was captivated by Jonathan Lichtenstein's sombre new play Darkness (Zoo Roxy), about a family of Welsh fundamentalist loggers uneasily awaiting Rapture together in the woods. But, wow, when one of the characters in this lunchtime production whipped out a vacuum flask and started dishing out a steaming stew to the rest of the cast, I'd not yet had anything to eat and half-wished myself one of this unhappy family of extremists just to get a mouthful.
tw rating 4/5 
Based on religious fundamentalism, Darkness; a new play by Jonathan Lichtenstein and directed by Gari Jones, is amazingly apt given recent occurrences across the globe. It concentrates on complete belief in rapture by God, and the danger religious extremism of this level can bring. The story concentrates on a deeply religious family who celebrate ascension night in the woods each year. They are joined on this occasion by the return of their prodigal son Ollie, and the immigrant worker Yann who has fallen for the family’s daughter.
David Tarkenter as George makes for incredibly compulsive viewing. He expertly handles the character, navigating the mess of ignorant views, familial bickering and sincere religious devotion with a deftness of touch that never oversteps the mark. His ability to balance George’s brutal demeanour with Lichtenstein’s ironic conversational dressing, easily switching from discussions of religious fervour to his disdain for salt and vinegar crisps, makes his character threatening and yet incredibly believable. Kieran Knowles is perhaps underused as Yan; his delivery of the Croatian’s sexually precocious but affable personality isn’t quite given the stage time it deserves as the contrast between his areligious morality and George and Tony’s blinkered devotion offer the real tension of the piece.
All in all Lichtenstein’s writing is incredibly well executed. His dialogue rarely places a foot wrong and it is clear that a great deal of work has gone into both the development of his story and characters. However this does not mean that this performance is entirely without failings. For a play so convincingly set up and so beautifully scripted I did find that the ending left me feeling somewhat conflicted; motivations that ring so true throughout the play seem to slip slightly in the last few scenes and the tension that has been boiling up throughout the play is allowed to dissipate slightly. Ultimately George’s messianic delusions are left unchallenged; whilst the bulk of his family step away and refuse to play a part in his immoral actions there is still insufficient confrontation for such a strong character to react off. This feels like a missed opportunity for a truly meaningful conclusion. Lichtenstein has the chance to make some truly powerful statements about the conflict between atheistic liberalism and the hard-edged will of the religious right but unfortunately pulls punches when a couple of timely jabs could truly hit home.