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.
As a stand-in reviewer sat next to another reviewer there was an ironic extra dimension added to ‘The Real Inspector Hound’, which was directed by Lewis Gray and produced by Rosie Townshend. The play is a parody of the classic parlour room ‘whodunit’ set in the isolated and melodramatic world of Muldoon Manor. However this is a play within a play, where the actual focus of the show on the two critics, Birdboot and Moon who are sat in the audience.
From the side lines Birdboot and Moon pass comment on the performance taking place before them and muse on their lives generally. Birdboot shows a keen interest in a couple of actresses who are ‘new talent’ whilst making many references to his wife, Myrtle. Moon is consumed with worry about himself in relation to the reputation of Higgs, the reviewer he is standing in for that night. Moon’s entire sense of self seems to be in relation to Higgs, and to a lesser extent Puckeridge who is one below Moon in the ‘hierarchy’ of reviewers, which results in fascination with the idea of Higgs’ death. The reviewers increasingly intrude on the action of the play, far beyond the ways a talkative reviewer normally would.
Gray’s decision to use thrust staging dictated many of the other elements of the performance which were generally successful. Birdboot (Adam Alcock) and Moon (Henri Ward) are sat at the front of the centre seating block. From here they were easily seen by those sat in the side blocks and they both took the opportunity to interact with those beside them. I can’t help but feel that those in the middle block not directly next to Alcock and Ward would have missed out on a significant chunk of the play, and some excellently directed dialogue, which was often at cross purposes.
The actors in the play within the play were, without exception, overacted and two dimensional. However, they were meant to be like this and had clearly put a lot of time into creating these performances. Stephanie Bartlett stole the show in her portrayal of the atrociously acted Mrs Drudge. Bartlett’s woodenness and expositional tone were a joy to watch. Her constant incorrect blocking, struggling for lines and worried looks to the audience provided much amusement and were a constant reminder that we were watching the play alongside Birdboot and Moon.
Never has the serving of coffee been such a central and hilarious moment of a play. Beth Yarwood Smith as Cynthia and Georgia Bird as Felicity are also both ‘ones to watch’ for excellent ham acting. The three boys all committed to the style as well. Max Tyler’s comic timing of a bumbling detective was excellent. Laurence Cook and Freddy Elletson also provided some inspiring comic legwork. Gray clearly put an immense effort into creating the acting style and quality of the play within the play and the cast did this justice, especially with the continuity of repeated scenes. Details, like repeated technical issues, also added to the feel of the play we watched with Birdboot and Moon.
The play is not perfect though. The set, whilst beautiful, put one section of the audience behind a chaise lounge which excluded an unfortunate few from many scenes. Thrust staging creates many problems for directors, Grey’s blocking was generally very audience conscious but the positioning of Birdboot and Moon and some set were unfortunate oversights. Cook and Elletson also sometimes slipped into slightly more naturalistic portrayals of their characters which, although only ever brief, did break the world of Muldoon Manor.
Overall the production was of a very high quality of which all actors and production team members should be proud. I would recommend the show to anyone who is familiar with theatre as it will provide great amusement. However, anyone who has ever been a reviewer should go prepared to be well and truly sent up!
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