Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Alex Kingston, Samuel West.
A man of many faces can be found almost anywhere, especially in Time. The problem is, if you are not aware of the faces to come, you can be sucked into a world of deceit and pain; you might even find yourself living Time over and over again, and all because you haven’t learned to learn one important lesson.
The Diary of River Song is sacrosanct, as all girls’ diaries are and yet at what may seem the most scurrilous of times, the man with numerous and various faces, returns to her life, full of adventure, full of questions, and yet seems distant, he knows everything about her, something the Doctor, unless he has been skipping ahead in his night time reading, shouldn’t know.
By definition, a two-handed play can be deemed challenging, demanding even, and whilst the experience can be seen as exciting, that there is less to cram in from the side-lines, it nevertheless can provoke a sense of energy that the listener is not prepared to invest in, especially if at the moment of high drama, there is little chemistry between the two actors on the stage. For in that moment there is a naked silence, a symbolism of regret that brings forth the image of lack of understanding and fear of exposure.
However, when you have the acting talent of Alex Kingston and Samuel West at your disposal, when you have a script as fascinating as Signs placed before your senses, the outcome is one that borders on the symbiotic, it doesn’t require the heat of expression, the almost detailed unveiling of the sheets to indicate that the chemistry is one of abandon, of comfortable progression, and that is exactly what Ms. Kingston and Mr. West bring to the fore in this particular adventure.
A future incarnation of the Doctor, or something entirely different, either way what lays beyond the Signs of a mystery for River Song is one that cannot be investigated in her current state, and as the drama continues, the listener is once more thrown in to the persistent and complex relationships of those who seek subterfuge to gain a prized possession. It takes concentration to work out the signs, but that is the point of a great detective story; one in which both Alex Kingston and Samuel West maintain with consummate ease.
The lesson, that one important truth of life, always keep your diary well-hidden, for a man with a thousand faces will always endeavour to hunt down your secrets, to know you better, to hurt you with the kindness of his facial expressions. It is a lesson that River Song will surely remember.
Ian D. Hall