You’d feel your heart race and your eyes darting if you had the (slightly scary) pleasure of watching Niko Burns’ Aqua Tofana at the University of Leeds. Within the small, cozy space of the Alec Clegg studio, a thrilling story unfolded involving a masters student becoming something far darker, and the almost uncontrollable nature of this transition had the audience hooked.
A sinister soundtrack follows our protagonist (or perhaps, antagonist?), Lola, and her closest friend, Jovie, through the typical toils and turmoils of young adulthood. A mundane setting enhances the suspense as the play’s events are rooted in lives that are either similar – or could be – to our own. Burns’ use of this setting is ingenious, drawing us into the world of Aqua Tofana, along with a simultaneous warning that this play which began so normally, ended so catastrophically.
Aqua Tofana explores the boundaries within morality, loyalty and betrayal subtly, with the deterioration of Lola’s (played by Ruby Dean) moral compass and sanity staying – for the majority part – off-screen, as it is intrinsically linked to the strange behavior of her finance, Henry, played by Raf Clays. We experience a sudden transition of Henry who goes from a cynical, aggravated young man, to one who spends the majority of his days in bed, asleep. We then see that it is the reason behind this transition which forms the connection between Henry’s sleepiness and Lola’s mental struggles.
Ruby Dean’s performance as Lola is so well-expressed, somehow allowing the audience to root for her despite her horrifying actions and a growing aggravation with those who love her. The imperfect depiction of Lola is crafted on the stage with actions that progressively grow more haunting, and Katie Meara performs her role as the best friend Jovie in order to enhance this with her accepting attitude toward Lola eventually crumbling and it is depicted that even she is unable to stay close to the friend she loves. The dynamic orchestrated between these two friends seems, at first, quite typical of best friends, and yet the tragic element of the play is rooted inside this relationship, as Burns’ point at the closing of Aqua Tofana is that, despite the main focus and motivation of Lola’s downfall being romantic love, the genuine end of the play came as and when her connection to Jovie was severed.
Within the play, there is humanity – Austin Keane brings the detective to life with a sense of sympathy and willingness to help that was brought upon by his initial, uncontrollable attraction to Lola. Pairing the detective’s kindness with Lola’s growing brutality makes the play all the more hooking. The aforementioned aspects of the play together with the atmosphere created with smooth jazz cutting into sinister tones and soft lighting suddenly becoming harsh white as spots of reality infiltrate Lola’s narrative, ultimately keeping our focus and belief in the story that Aqua Tofana brings to the stage.
Written by: Jessie Haslam
Edited by: Harsheni Maniarasan