Review: The Bounds (Royal Court Theatre)

Review by Rosie Holmes

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On the surface, The Bounds is about football, a match we ourselves might not recognise today as a football, but football nonetheless. Yet this play reveals itself to be a lot more as we begin to discover more about the characters, their lives, and their positions in the world. It is, excuse the football pun, very much a play of two halves, light and fun giving way to tension and darkness.

It’s Whitsun 1553, and the annual football match is due to begin, nestled within the hills of Northumbria between rival towns Caton and Allentown. The game is violent and dangerous, the pitch several miles long and the match often lasting for days at a time. Very far back in the defence line are local peasants Percy and Rowan, whose interactions with each other are typical of close friends, humorous and jovial. Percy is deeply passionate about the game, discussing the players and chanting in ways we would recognise from a football fan today, while Rowan delights in ribbing him, poking the bear, not-so-optimistic at Caton’s chances of winning.

Tensions begin to rise with the arrival of smartly dressed, ‘Oxford educated’ Samuel. It is not clear why he is there or why he stays, but Percy’s hostility towards him is clear. Rowan is warmer towards him, but again tensions rise further as she begins to reveal the horrors and torture she suffered at the hands of the villagers after saying no to one too many suitors. Things then get stranger as a young boy appears, beating the bounds, redefining the boundaries of the rival towns.

Writer Stewart Pringle’s talents lie in witty and fast paced dialogue, cleverly mixing Tudor language and modern dialogue which delights the audience throughout with some incredibly funny one-liners. There are some powerful themes and metaphors within the play. Percy and Rowan are the towns misfits and their powerlessness in the game of football, far away from the action, is a reflection of their lack of power within society, and within the town. Their inability to control their own lives and, at times, defend their names, property, and good standing in the community.

It does, however, attempt to cover a little too much. Fast paced and funny dialogue feels as though it is racing towards a big reveal or explosive finale, but it never seems to reach a climax. The show becomes more horror-like, exploring themes of religious intolerance, lack of agency, the supernatural, and the outsider. A change in tone was slightly confusing and jarring towards the end, seemingly jumping into the future to speak of the horrors that humans suffer and can impose on others, which did not seem to fit with the folk-like horror of the rest of the piece.

Ryan Nolan, as Percy, and Lauren Waine, as Rowan, have great chemistry as the pair at the centre of the story. Their banter is funny and natural, mischievous, but also emphasising the hidden meanings and seriousness of some of the words they deliver. Soroosh Lavasani is unsettling as mysterious stranger, and young Harry Weston is wonderfully accomplished as the young ‘boy’. Set design by Verity Quinn is simple but effective, with characters standing atop of mounds of muddy grass, and a surprise trapdoor making a very brief but impressively impactful appearance. Jack McNamara’s direction is lively, in a play that very much relies on its wordy dialogue more than its visuals or movement.

The Bounds is funny and interesting, unsettling as well as entertaining. Its cast are wonderful, mixing horror with comedy effectively. It does however feel as though it tries to cover just a little too much, some of its imagery is wonderful and it does explore some important themes, it just felt a little hard to engage with all these themes equally as the play progressed with a slightly jarring ending.

The Bounds plays at Royal Court Theatre until 13th July 2024, tickets and more information can be found here - The Bounds - Royal Court (royalcourttheatre.com)

Photos by Von Fox Promotions