FOUR STARS

This one-woman show is a rather enigmatic piece — in many respects it is more an art installation than straight theatre — but an interesting experience nonetheless. Created by Melanie Wilson, a writer, performer and sound artist, Landscape II is a medley of sound, images and narration.

The scenario is focused on traumatised war photographer Vivien who has retreated to recuperate at her family’s ancestral home, an isolated cottage on Exmoor. In this lonely house she discovers 100-year-old letters penned by her great-great-grandmother, Beatrice, and is drawn to explore the recollections she finds. This familial strand is intertwined with Vivien’s memories of her friend Meena, who has been brutally killed in an Islamic country, and her own distressing experiences there.

As Vivien (Wilson) sits at her desk she reads from Beatrice’s missives, recalls conversations with Meena, and relates her own (quite spooky) experiences as she visits the places mentioned in the letters. Wilson’s performance style is compelling — her voice is well modulated and captivates throughout the one-hour show. In addition to this she creates a rich, sometimes unnerving, sound-scape from the console on her desk. Ranging from rustic fiddle tunes, to powerful techno beats and nature sounds — it is also peppered with snatches of ghostly murmurings, creaking floorboards, gunshots and much else.

Covering the entire back wall of the studio theatre is a huge panoramic screen showing images of old family photos, video films (created by collaborator Will Duke) of the beautiful wild landscape that Vivien explores, nightmarish recollections from her traumatic experiences, and other hallucinatory flashes.

A kaleidoscopic narrative is cleverly woven from all these elements, creating an intriguing and moving glimpse into Vivien’s interior world. It also has much to say regarding female identity, the solitariness of the individual and the ties that both bind us and give us strength to carry on.