Paul McGann Guts a Fish On Stage, Every Night, in The River: A Review

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Paul McGann Guts a Fish On Stage, Every Night, in The River: A Review

Paul McGann guts a fish on stage, every night... but that's okay. There are plenty more in the sea. Reviewing The River at Greenwich Theatre.

Published Wed, 09 Oct 2024 03:38:07 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Last updated Wed, 09 Oct 2024 04:18:51 -0500
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Article Summary

• Paul McGann captivates as he guts a fish live on stage in Jez Butterworth's The River.
• Explore intertwined timelines and unravel complex relationships in this Greenwich Theatre revival.
• Amanda Ryan and Kerri Maclean shine as they navigate truth, lies, and love.
• The River challenges perceptions of identity, much like Doctor Who's evolving canon.

Before writing a review of The River by Jez Butterworth, I saw that other people had called this revival "totally incomprehensible." After seeing the play last night at the Greenwich Theatre, those reviews were the ones I was most puzzled by.

Because, yes, let's get this right, there is a puzzle box element to the play, trying to work out who is who and when is when. Paul McGann plays an unnamed Man, who has inherited a cabin and the land it sits on, including two miles of river, prime for fishing sea trout, especially once a year on a moonless night. And where he takes two women, The Woman and The Other Woman, played by Amanda Ryan and Kerri Maclean, he is involved with, separately, at different times, both of whom he tells he loves, both of whom he tries to get to go fishing with him, but with very different responses, speaking to their different characters, but that ends the same way.

And the play jumps between the two times, the two women, the two lives. We are led to believe one happens before the other, and then that is upended. We do not know which order the women came to the cabin, we don't know who he is lying to, as he said he would to all other women. But that's fine. There are plenty more fish in the sea. The Man sees himself as a good man, but he is just as much a bad man as his uncle, but with more artifice, pretension, poetry and self-justification, creating himself as a lure. He is not in a relationship with any of the women, he is just hunting fish. He does the same thing each time, just as the trout is cooked and baked. And, yes, Paul McGann does gut a trout live, on stage, every night. How many other plays can promise that? There is a process to fish preparation, as there is the process of preparing women. We see, or can deduce, the same actions played out with each. He has rules, just as there are rules to fly-fishing. You can't use Monster Munch as a lure, it is a trick, or it is poaching, and The Man does not see himself as a poacher. But they, just like the trout in his hand, escape with a final flick.

The cabin is as much of a lure, beautiful on stage, multi-levelled, the radio playing, the sunsets from the windows, the sounds of the river, echoing the one we crossed to get here, and the robins who find their way in before knocking themselves unconscious on the windows. This has happened before; this will happen again, and they will survive, as will the women. As inviting as it is, we learn it has a darker, more sinister past from The Uncle. But has it changed?

I saw McGann last month in a Doctor Who stage performance, which was a lot of fun, but there is so much more in The Man. He is the lure, he is knowledgable about wine and whisky, he reads poetry, he promises passion, in both fishing and lovemaking, he presents himself as someone who cares, who is thoughtful, an examined life, and one is happy in, he has a place, one of authority but also benevolence. It is a lie, but who he is lying to and who he once told the truth to, echoing through the years, is lost.

Amanda Ryan is The Woman who sees herself as someone spiritual, nice, and unpretentious. She cares less about how she looks, is not one for makeup, swims naked when the world is not looking, and presents herself as the real thing. But she is as much of a liar as the man, though at least she confesses to it before seeing the unconfessed liar in the Man.

Kerri Maclean is The Other Woman, younger, rougher, more carefree, more concerned about her image, willing to put on the dress, flirt with others, and step outside the rules. She is walking and talking Monster Munch. Despite that, she may be more honest about who she actually is, which is why she may be more shocked by duplicity.

The interplay between them both and The Man is the heart of the play. It determines what is true, what is a lie, what is fiction, and whether it matters. And that is what works the most. When you work out who they are and why they are, the dialogue, sometimes overblown, is revealed as what it is. The Man has learnt these lines; they have been repeated over time, just like an actor. because that is all he is. An actor, playing an actor, with the monologues to match.

Hey, do you want another completely non sequitur of a Doctor Who reference? Fans had been led to believe there were a set number of Doctors. Then a couple more were added into the mix, as we saw Paul McGann regenerate into John Hurt. But then we learnt, as part of The Timeless Children, that there were many more Doctors before William Hartnell, returning to the central, initial aspect of the character, established in 1963, Doctor Who? We no longer know. And those who had built their sense of self on their knowledge of canon and history over sixty years felt utterly betrayed. In The River, we are led one way and then another, but are left not knowing; we are just able to deduce certain aspects from what we do know. We see two women, there may be many others. We do not know who he told the truth to, if he ever did. The Man… Who? He is a fake, he is a lure, he is nothing more, even though he pretends even to himself that he is.

But in the end we see the earliest of truths, the earliest of days, and the secret origins. There are truths there if we choose to look. Just that everything else is a lie.

The River runs at the Greenwich Theatre until the 27th of October.

• Written by Jez Butterworth
• Starring Paul McGann, Kerri Maclean and Amanda Ryan
• Directed by James Haddrell
• Set and Costume Designer Emily Bestow
• Lighting Designer Henry Slater,
• Sound Designer Julian Starr,
• Composer Michaela Murphy.
• Running Time: 75 mins (no interval)
• Age Recommendation: 16+

The River

Review by Rich Johnston

8.5/10

Paul McGann guts a fish on stage, every night... but that's okay. There are plenty more fish in the sea. Reviewing The River at Greenwich Theatre, London.

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