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.
The play centres on the Brewster sisters Abby and Martha, who murder lonely old men with no families and bury them in their Brooklyn cellar. Their nephew Teddy (Matthew Lacey) believes himself to be Theodore Roosevelt, and buries the ‘yellow fever victims’ in the ‘Panama Canal’ downstairs. His brother Mortimer (Mark Smith) stumbles upon his aunts’ misdeeds and the action descends into farce.
I began to lose my patience with repeated ‘It’s behind you!’ moments
Mortimer is played up to be quite the buffoon, and his ‘evil’ brother Jonathan (Jonathan Kerridge-Phillips, ironically) crosses the line of sincerity with his portrayal of a disturbed serial killer. The performances, by and large, were quite hammed up, and the humour I presume was implied by the heavy melodrama, although the slapstick was wearing quite thin towards the end. I began to lose my patience with repeated ‘It’s behind you!’ moments and thinly veiled allusions to death (by poison or otherwise), especially when we think Mortimer is about to die.
Having said that, James Quelch’s portrayal of Dr. Einstein was, I felt, genuine and more naturally funny – a refreshing break from the overdramatic performances of his peers. Unassuming and kind of heart, the poor doctor finds himself in thrall to Jonathan’s deranged thirst for blood, yet unwittingly puts a stop to all the bloodshed at the play’s conclusion. In true pantomime style, the bad guy gets sent to prison, the nutters put away somewhere, and the natural order of things is restored. I wouldn’t necessarily urge you to see this play, but it’s good for a chuckle or two, and an easy way to support your local university talent.
Arsenic and Old Lace can be seen at the Drama Barn from Thursday 22nd November to Sunday 25th November at 7.30pm.
I went to see this last night and think it deserves a little more credit than this revue grants it. Whilst there were admittedly some problems with the production - the barn felt too small for the amount of set the play seemed to demand and there were times when the pace dragged - the moments of genius rendered these entirely forgivable. I thought Jonathan in particular, as well as Martha and Abby, performed with almost flawless comic precision. JKP's exploitation of facial expression and eyebrow movement amounted to just about the funniest thing i've seen in a long time. Very well directed, and on the whole, very well performed. Well done.
At the end of the day though as Review is just one person's opinion and this is obviously how Janelle felt about the play. Right or wrong...it's up to you.
Whilst I agree that everyone is entitled to their opinions, I think that the reviewer has misunderstood the play. Arsenic and Old Lace was written to be a light-hearted and ridiculous farce. The character's are deliberately over the top to enhance the comedy and provide a few light hours for a post-war audience. Realism and naturalistic acting are not the aims and I believe the production should be given credit for sticking to this ethos, rather than following formula - so often seen in the drama barn - of sacrificing entertainment for the sake of finding something 'deep and meaningful' in the drama. Her comment that Jonathon lacked sincerity is only possible given a too critical interpretation of the play as serious commentary on life rather than the light hearted comedy it is meant to be. Jonathon manages to be hilariously animated while still maintaining the dark air that the character requires, no mean feat, and perhaps if he deserves any criticism it is for struggling not to laugh along with the audience at the brilliance of the comedy.
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