Showing @ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh until Mon 25 Aug @ 12:45
A Slight Ache is one of Harold Pinter’s less well known plays; understandable, given it was originally written for radio. A neat tale of slowly poisoned domesticity, it contains two outstanding performances from Thom Tuck and Catriona Knox; a well-heeled couple forced to deal with the unsettling invasion of a harmless matchbox seller.
Tuck, with carefully controlled boredom and increasing outbursts of rage, excels, embodying the character of a middle aged grump despite being decades younger. Knox’s character stays a little more restrained, stitched up and closed off, until her own confrontation with the intruder; when her gentle confession and tender ministrations prove moving and haunting in equal measure.
There are some elements that don’t translate well from radio. It’s not that the presence of the unknowable man doesn’t lack threat – Simon Munnery’s lack of interaction is chilling. It seems at any moment that he might lash out, scream, cry, laugh. It’s more that, when the others describe what he is doing – a contorted or distressed facial expression for example – he doesn’t do it, and there seeps in a discrepancy between the words and the actions we see.
It’s a minor niggle in what is a very interesting piece. But in some ways, it would be wonderful to stay with Flora and Edward in the sun-soaked garden. Listening to their complaints, loves, the bitterness that builds up in a long relationship. And always watching the sinister figure at the edge of their world.