This is one of the great plays of the 20th century and a long one too i.e. if you perform it as currently at the Royal Exchange in Manchester where the director, Sarah Frankcom, has decided to weld acts one and two together so that the second half of this long evening begins with act 3, which for me does n't really work. Proof of which were the large number of empty seats after the first act which weighs in at two hours. One has to concentrate really hard for this length of time, not to mention also have a strong bladder! As a result we also miss the titles of each act, which give us a clue as to what is about to follow: Act 1 Fun and Games; Act 2 Walpurgis Nacht and Act 3 Exorcism.There have been some great productions of this play in recent times: Kathleen Turner gave a great performance in London last year and there was of course the celebrated film version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. In other words some hard acts to follow!On the whole the Manchester team do extremely well. But I had problems with the accent of Barbara Marten who plays Martha and who sounded at times like a gangsters moll so thick was her Bronx vocal twang. Philip Bretherton plays George who seemed to me to get everything right. His performance grew in staure as the evening progressed. Michael Begley and Joanne Froggatt convincingly play husband and wife Nicky and Honey.
No comments:
Post a Comment