If a picture is worth a thousand words, it can be applied to Pamela Raith’s photo of the cast above in David Mamet’s play The Woods at Southwark Playhouse.  We see a young woman hanging on for dear life to a man who is looking disinterested.  Mamet’s play is about the disconnect between two people.  It is about ambivalence and psychological or emotional pressure. 

Looking at the woman Ruth (Francesca Carpanini) you can write your own narrative.  Her face is pleading; her arms are holding him in place; she is gripping his coat at shoulder level; her other arm is restraining his left arm.  Nick (Sam Frenchum) seems detached, not looking at her but frowning, unhappy.  Their creative body language tells you that she wants to be there and wants more and he wants to be out of there.

They have come for a few days in a log cabin in the woods which has sentimental memories for him of his childhood and members of his family.  He associates this place with stories of his childhood and he wants to be told stories again.  She associates this as a romantic getaway and voices that it would be nice to exchange gold gifts.  She is looking for commitment; he is looking for escape back to his youth. 

But like all Mamet plays, you do not always get what you expect.  This relationship will shift as Ruth realises that Nick doesn’t want what she wants, and she threatens to leave which he also doesn’t want.  But as is usual for a play by David Mamet, you might also expect a violent interlude.