Reviews
Review: Shakespeare Double Bill @ The Old Joint Stock TheatreJust when you thought everybody was off acting themselves silly at the Edinburgh Festival, the Purple Cast have snuck into the heart of Birmingham with an ambitious double bill featuring not one but two of Shakespeare’s late plays in a pocket-sized production that does them great credit.
A Winter’s Tale is one of the bard’s most beautiful and complex dramas exploring the workings of unreasoned jealousy in a cold climate before offering us the resolution of love and forgiveness in a fruitful summer. Director Wendy Ann Jeffries employs a neatly tailored version of the play which features some splendid performances. George C Francis did a great job as the ruler Leontes driven mad by his own unreasoned jealousy, while Kirsty Blakely visibly grew in confidence as his accused wife Hermione. Eleanor Mallinson charmed as her abandoned daughter Perdita, and Alan Wales who seems to specialise in playing men put into impossible positions gave an energetic performance as Camillo, the king’s wronged friend.
It never ceases to amaze how well The Tempest, Shakespeare’s last play responds to any style of direction. Here its contrasts and complexities were made clear by the delightfully fresh approach of Director George C. Francis. The play’s wide-ranging issues, nature versus nurture, noble kingship contrasted with corrupt politics and the simplicity of first love set against various levels of villainy here sprang into fresh, vivid life. This necessarily stripped-down version nevertheless retained the play’s poetry, magic and humour and featured some lively playing especially by Mr. Francis himself as the uncivilised monster Caliban while Wendy Ann Jeffries was a refreshingly un-fey Ariel.
As the wizard Prospero Alan Wales made the very most of playing what must be one of the greatest of all Shakespearean roles. Eleanor Mallinson and Ryan Mcken made a charming pair as the puppyish young lovers Miranda and Ferdinand, while Kieron Attwood’s drunken butler Stephano was a triumph of characterisation.
These potted versions of two classic plays make for a stimulating night out whether you’re coming to the plays new or it’s a return match.
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Measure For Measure Reviews
Measure for Measure @ The Custard Factory
Written by Matthew Williamson
FEW theatrical experiences begin with a prostitute grabbing you by the arm and offering you
‘whatever you want for a fiver… and Chlamydia for free’, but this version of Measure for Measure
was far from ordinary. Performed to an intimate audience (of no more than fifteen),
the play was set in a variety of locations within The Custard Factory,
with the disguised Duke acting as our guide. Some scenes were even more effective
given their unique locations, with Claudio’s imprisonment seeing him chained to a raft
in the middle of the artificial lake and Angelo persuading Isabella to be his lover within
a spookily candle-lit chapel. A couple of the rooms chosen were marred slightly by interruptions
from office workers trying to find the exit, but the majority worked well and the idea of moving
around the complex certainly kept the audience on its feet.
The small audience and the lack of a traditional stage and seating set-up
(only the play’s final scene is set within the complex’s Mixing Bowl Theatre)
initially made for quite an uncomfortable audience experience, especially with the characters
of the prostitutes gyrating against glass walls in the background of the main action.
There wasn’t even the chance to applaud at the end, just a cry of ‘Run for your lives!’
and the ushering of the audience out through the back door.
Measure for Measure is supposedly one of the finest Shakespearean comedies,
but this was an evening of few laughs, with the director choosing to emphasize the tragic outcome of the play.
Nowhere was this more evident than in the final scene, when a distraught Isabella runs out of the building,
desperately trying to escape the Duke’s insistence upon marriage.
There were excellent performances throughout, most notably from The Duke (Graeme Brookes)
and the wronged Isabella (Lorna Meehan). Little touches like throwing the audience
out of the back door at the end, or having Pompey and Mistress Overdone sipping
on a bottle of Jack Daniels in prison, really showed a desire to provide a fresh, innovative theatrical experience.
And that it most certainly was.
This article was posted on January 29th, 2010 at 6:28 am
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