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.
Following last week’s outstanding performances of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the York Theatre Royal ensemble fall short of replicating such successes with Janys Chambers’ stage adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s much beloved book, My Family and Other Animals.
At just under three hours (including interval), it is tough to get through. Chambers’ adaptation, although having significantly edited the book, could benefit from trimming the fat as many scenes feel unnecessary. The episodic nature of Durrell’s book provides very little narrative arc as it is a series of humorous anecdotes. The characters undertake absolutely no development through Chambers’ play which would be fine if each episode was humorous enough to negate the need for dramatic development but unfortunately, they are not. There are some brilliant moments of comedy but these are peppered amongst a superfluity of cheap gags which wear thin easily.
Aside from length, there are two major problems with the play. Firstly, as a play which relies so heavily on puppetry, the object manipulation is nothing but wiggling sticks in the vain hope of the puppet vaguely resembling an animal. I hoped to be fooled by the puppets as I have before (I refer particularly to Angus Jackson’s Goodnight Mr. Tom) but was sadly let down. They did not become the vast, exotic array of animals intended, but just remained as inanimate lumps of fur and feathers. Alecko the gull was the only successful example but even then the prowess of its puppeteer only made me wonder why other members of the cast could not provide the same spectacle.
The second issue is that My Family and Other Animals feels lazy. It lacks both cohesion and direction. Some actors seem to have run rampant in an attempt to exploit the comedy and in some instances this works but there is no denying that it is of a detriment to the play as a whole. There also is a lack of consistency in the direction. Michael Lambourne as Roger the dog is impressive. He is like a cartoon; with mostly canine tendencies, he also has an air of the human about him, with basic understanding of speech and the ability to row a boat! Roger is fully developed and we appear to understand what we are getting when the actors play animals – 90% animal, 10% human. It is then utterly perplexing when characters such as the donkey take on absolutely no animal qualities except for a clichéd bray every now and again which sounds half-hearted at the best of times. The same goes for the ‘Magenpies’ who do not appear to be even vaguely birdlike. The imbalance is very confusing and I wonder what director Damian Cruden’s intentions were.
The music, composed by Christopher Madin, it is the perfect accompaniment to the cartoonish goings-on and heightens the sheer madness of life in the Durrell family. I can say with confidence that it was my favourite aspect of the play even if it did, at times, contribute to inaudibility of the actors.
Each actor proves their competence, with stand-out performances by Emily Pithon and Simon Yadoo. Pithon as Margo is a delight. She gives a strong, consistent performance managing to make me laugh at almost every turn of phrase. Her sadness at leaving Corfu is a swift gem almost hidden amongst the closing scene. Yadoo packs in powerful performances as various men in the lives of the Durrells. Most impressive is his short turn as Tarkan, the conceited, egotistical Turk vying for the affections of Margo. He is outrageous and hilarious and unintentionally provides the highlight of the play. All of the supporting actors do very well, utilising a comic range of accents and mannerisms. The family are equally as successful but, as I mentioned, suffer critique as a result of the sheer length of the play.
It pains me to criticise this play as clearly the ensemble have the best intentions at heart and I noticed as I left the theatre that a lot of families and children did seem entertained. However, if we are to address it critically, there is still a long process of refinement for this play which shows tremendous promise but does not, as of yet, fulfil its potential.
My Family and Other Animals is showing at YTR until the 25th June.
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