Franz Kafka was the master of uncanny tragicomedy, and he seems to have influenced Kieran Lynn, whose play, transferring here after a successful fringe run, depicts the absurdities of bureaucracy.
Olivia and Arthur are a young couple enjoying a walk in the park when a border guard called Reiver propels himself into their world, dividing it (and them) with a line of duct tape. He says this is the boundary between two newly formed countries; soon there will be proper fortifications but in the meantime Olivia and Arthur must keep to their separate sides.
Speaking to his boss, George, whom he’s never met, Reiver picks up the pedantic style of the upstart regime. Revelling in his authority, he explains that the correct procedures for crossing the border have not been put in place, so the couple face what threatens to be an excruciating wait.
As time passes, there’s more than a vague similarity to Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett’s vision of lives caught between hope and despair. Director Bruce Guthrie nurtures this parallel, while handling the plot’s dafter extremities with aplomb. There’s chemistry among the cast. Marc Pickering captures Reiver’s mixture of ineptitude and officiousness. His oafish notion that his job gives him power and will get him a girlfriend results in some
rich laughs, while Florence Hall as Olivia makes the most of a flatly conceived part.
The most engaging work comes from Tom Bennett as Arthur. Early on, this sweet-natured dreamer fantasises about being a duck, instead of listening to news of the war in which he is set to be engulfed. He’s a warning to the sort of people who pay no attention to significant events unless they are directly involved in them.
As his passivity becomes more apparent and Olivia’s assertiveness looms, the flaws in their relationship start to show.
Bennett’s performance — gentle, even dopey, yet with an undercurrent of angst — makes this deterioration poignant. However, the writing flickers with promise rather than sustaining interest.
Lynn has some smart things to say about the arbitrariness of power and the way boundaries heighten people’s sense of difference. But the characters aren’t sufficiently rounded, straying towards gender stereotypes.
Despite moments of comedy and charm, An Incident at the Border feels like an overextended sketch.
Until September 15 (0844 871 7627, theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios)
