At a time when the Bush theatre is staging a season in the half-dark because their lighting grid has been put out of action by leaks and flooding, it seems ironic - even a tad cheeky? - that the Young Vic has decided to intentionally fill their auditorium with water.
In Miriam Beuther's design for the theatre's production of Tarell Alvin McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water the entire floor of the theatre has become a lake, with seating arranged around its edge. Though there's barely enough of the stuff to cover the actors' feet, the pool appears ocean-deep, bottomless, bringing to mind not only the Louisiana bayou where the play is set but something altogether otherworldly.
Michael Billington wasn't convinced though, feeling that "the mythic simplicity of McCraney's story was overwhelmed" by the production and its design. But when Oya, played by Ony Uhiara, stands poised in her purple satin running shorts and bright yellow vest and is reflected in the still, black surface, it's truly striking: quite beautiful to behold. However, when a large number of characters gather on stage and all move about, the splash factor rather undermines the effect, and the scene most closely resembles a group of children playing in a large paddling pool. Also, trivial though it may be, I couldn't help wondering about the practical consideration of performing the piece in this way, worrying about the soggy socks and water-logged trouser cuffs. How cold was it? How uncomfortable, or otherwise?
Wet feet have definitely proved an issue at the Donmar Warehouse where, for Alan Rickman's production of Creditors, a discrete trough of water designed to subtly evoke the play's coastal location has caught a number of unobservant audience members off-guard.
The Donmar is clearly fond of water. A few subtle puddles on an otherwise empty set enhanced the atmosphere of Michael Grandage's acclaimed Othello and for their production of Schiller's Mary Stuart they were even able to employ a rain machine, creating an on-stage storm, though they clearly missed a trick by not throwing in a spot of rain-writing as seen during the Take That musical, Never Forget.
The thing about introducing water into a production is that often it can detract from the action more than it adds. When I first spotted the pool at the centre of the set for the National's recent Much Ado About Nothing it was obvious that a cast member was going to get wet by the end of the night and it was just a case of who and when. And though Simon Russell Beale's tumble into the water was, it has to be said, an exercise in brilliant physical comedy, it was a shame they had Zoe Wanamaker replicate the scene only a few minutes later.
The use of water on stage can be utterly stunning - think of Vesturport Theatre's amazing, almost entirely underwater finale to their production of Woyzeck, or the fishtank drowning in Rupert Goold's Six Characters update at the Gielgud - but more often than not it can feel gimmicky. During In the Red and Brown Water's still moments there is something almost hypnotically beautiful about the pool, mirror-like and glittering, but it didn't take much to be reminded that the actors were, essentially, standing in a great big puddle.
