Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
This weekend, Luigi Pirandello’s 'Six Characters in Search of an Author' came to the Drama Barn, giving us the disconcerting story of a family of unresolved characters, who, abandoned by their author, gatecrash a rehearsal to demand a stage on which they can act out their story and unfold the horrors and tragedy of their existence.
An absurd and profoundly philosophical play, Six Characters was met with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" ( "Madhouse!") when it was first performed in Rome in 1921. The play has subsequently enjoyed a much better reception, often occluding the questions it raises about the relationship between reality and illusion.
On the whole, this production retained a sense of the play’s ability to startle. As the characters unfurled their tale of sexual exploitation, poverty and suicide, they constantly drew attention to the artifice that it was, keeping the debate about the nature of art, character and reality rightly at the forefront of the play.
The audience was exposed to an effective use of bare staging in the first half of the play, even if a little overwhelmed from a perhaps excessive use of cigarettes on the director’s part. The ‘characters’ were dressed ghoulishly in black with white faces, effectually differentiating them from the ‘real’ actors. And, by and large, the cast gave a sharp, impressive opening night performance.
The performance of the ‘characters’ outweighed that of the ‘actors’. Genevieve Ponsford was fantastic as the stepdaughter, switching effortlessly from moments of rage to humiliation to vulnerability. Harry de Moraville gave a chillingly commanding performance as the Father and comic moments were supplied by Michael Wilkins in his portrayal of the director, even if he did not grapple well with the more serious moments of the play. The reaction of the ‘actors’ to the climax of the play was slightly melodramatic and unconvincing, somewhat undermining what had hitherto been a thoroughly powerful, confident and thought-provoking production of Pirandello’s most famous and celebrated play.
'Six Characters in Search of an Author' is running at the Drama Barn at 7.30pm until Sunday 7th December. Tickets are available on the door.
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