Drama

DRAGONS

The advent of this production attracted more than usual interest through the 'Government Health Warning' attached to its language and its setting in the 'new' drama centre: how many of the audience would be shocked into early departure (taking advantage of the thoughtful advice in the programme about the easiest exit), and would the producer utilise all the potential of this building on its first public occasion?

In the event, both the language and the situation were brought together to produce a memorably disturbing piece. Ian Lowe's thematic exploration of Miller and Orwell provided us with a powerful expression of the dangers latent in fundamentalism. The building, still a bare and unadorned church hall, offered a good setting for the action and contributed to the portrayal of the 'community'. The black cross, stark texts and — a nice touch — the service leaflets with the words of the hymn all served to engage us. It was surely appropriate that this plain and austere ambience was matched by the rudimentary state of the electrics: Jim Butler worked several miracles in making the effects as good as they were.

The Elizabeth, Proctor, Abigail triangle contributed substantially to the power of the piece, with compelling performances from these members of the cast. Vicki Gill was impressive in her command of the forceful and uncompromising language and expression associated with Abigail. Sally Hamilton's dark brooding and cold conviction enhanced the focus of the play, and, towards its conclusion, her meeting with the Co-ordinator was set in striking contrast by the embracing Abigail and Proctor.

The Reverend (Antony Dunn) presided over the unleashing of the forces bent on finding a scapegoat for the predicament faced by the 'community'. The meeting of the four men with the Co-ordinator and the solution proposed, re-inforced by the following sermon, deepened our disquiet.

The lighter moments, such as they were in this dark drama, were well received. Ann (Sarah Durham), cautioning against leniency and organising the children, was superb. 'Enjoyable' is hardly appropriate to describe the experience of those present, but all involved — too many to mention individually — gave us an excellent production. P. Taylor

The man with the long hair came up and told me that he could make me a star. But I could see he didn't have one of those big fat Havana cigars like you see in the movies and I knew he lived on Bankhead Road not 42nd Street. I wasn't going to fall for this one.

Seven weeks later a big beer-bellied man in a cap was shouting at me and this tall bloke in a tweed jacket (my daddy apparently) about something called 'stage presents'. But it didn't look like he was going to buy me anything at the moment; and to make matters worse this little man was following me around and asking for messages. I thought he was the brother of a short, fat person. But the fat one was sitting at a table off stage whispering sweet nothings down a microphone to some sinister men in black who were always stealing the table from my new dad's office only to put it back a few minutes later. Then they told me that the man with the long hair was now my brother whereas the person I thought was his brother was a loan-shark's 'assistant' in a bad suit and no relation at all. So you can see it was all very confusing.

Next these other two people appeared. They had been brother and sister and happily for my security they looked like staying that way. Now they did live near Broadway: but that was now in Fulford. Oh dear! 'Fools Gold' was performed by the Teenact Theatre Company in April 1991.

Chris Braganza

I've mixed feelings about competitions — they stimulate and initiate but they also introduce concepts of winning and losing which are dubious enough in sport (where the result has now become more important than the performance), even less appropriate to Drama. Without the National Theatre Schools Challenge, Antony Dunn might never have written and produced "Resurrection" but I'm glad to be writing this review before we learn if the play has been selected for a London showing, before the experience of the performance has been tainted by ideas of "success" or "failure". "Resurrection" is set after nuclear devastation. The first half of the play takes place in a fall-out shelter where the attempted ordered survival, led by the government regulation obsessed Leonid (Chris Braganza) is beginning to disintegrate. Deaths by euthanasia and suicide (the last of which bordering on melodrama despite a powerfully intense performance by Steven Clegg as the deranged Alex) led Leonid and the forceful if insubordinate Nikita (Elena Clegg) to venture outside in the false hope that the air may have cleared. The rest of the play follows this second generation Adam and Eve to the sole sign of growth amid desolation — a tree bearing a single apple. Here play becomes polemic (though no less powerful for that), with Nikita asserting the right to seize this symbol of life for her own survival in the face of Leonid's arguments that they are, in effect, already dead and should not interfere with nature's renewal. The ending is deliberately ambiguous (or obscure?). The eating of the apple is followed (causally?) by the appearance of a rape victim and this, coupled with Nikita's final cry of "What have I done?", suggests that by her resurrection of human life this latter day Eve has also resurrected man's inhumanity to man (and woman), leading inexorably to a repeated cycle of devastation.

Grim, intense stuff then, with no room for laughter, and it is the very highest tribute to the production and playing that there was none from the audience despite the desire for a release from tension (even when the writing occasionally slipped towards bathos). The style of the production had been carefully thought out to create atmosphere: an austerely bare central stage, minimal props and costuming, and simple but haunting flute and drum accompaniment (from Claire Altman and Matthew Williams) helped minimise the barrier between actors and audience. With the cast on stage from the start, entering into the theatre was like entering the bunker itself. The risks of the play, teetering as it does on the brink of the symbolic and the absurd, were considerable but such was the conviction of the ensemble playing that not even a key prop rolling off stage broke their, or our, concentration. Individual performances were good (with Chris Braganza vocally impressive and Elena Clegg achieving a ferocious intensity of characterisation that was particularly moving) but the power of the evening came from the way the individuals cohered to make the overall experience of the production greater than any of its individual parts. To that extent the other roles (Tim Dunn's anguished doctor, Angela Rosindale's despairing and dying victim and James and Hannah Fieldsend, Daniella Lipman and Katy Pittman all intensely involved despite their paucity of lines) and the backstage crew (led by Andy Collier and Miles Layram) were all crucial to the play's success through the very selflessness of their contributions.

Cast and crew clearly believed in the play — the first and usually most difficult task of any producer. They performed it with a unity of style and purpose — the second most difficult task. Drama is not about winners and losers but some people are more successful and talented than others. In his own self effacing, modest way Antony Dunn, as both playwright and producer, demonstrated this very clearly in "Resurrection". /. M. K. Lowe

VIDEO COMPETITION

"The Legacy" — last year's entry in the Focus Multibroadcast National Schools' Video Competition — reached the regional semi-final stage. This year St. Peter's has again entered the competition with a short film entitled "Reconciliation".

Tim Dunn wrote the script and Charlotte GravesTamvakis drew the storyboard.

AWARD FOR JON

Congratulations to Jon Lacy-Colson on the award of a licentiateship by the Victoria College of Music and Drama in London. Jon is one of the youngest actors in the country to receive this award, for which the normal minimum age is eighteen.

The task was a tough one. Could J. A. O-B. and I. M. K. L. really coax three Ayckbourn mini-plays out of a group of novice third years? The answer, surprisingly enough, was yes.

Opening, to an expectant hush, in an untidy sitting room for "Mother Figure", the play began to take shape, with Lucy Robertson and Cathy Dixon giving creditable and convincing performances as Lucy Compton on their respective nights. Roger Lakin played a cool and understated Terry, and the sense of witful muddle was there from beginning to end.

Lucy Compton's husband Harry, masterfully portrayed by Steve Whalley, took us into "Drinking Companion". Steve gave a truly excellent performance, working through his mammoth set of lines without once dipping out of his delightfully philandering character. Julia Toms was equally convincing and life-like as the profoundly uncomfortable Paula, and it was a shame when it was left behind as Graham Kershaw took us into "Between Mouthfuls" — a classic example of Ayckbourn stagecraft which the lighting crew were more than a match for.

Michael Tildesley gave us a gruff, irritable Pearce, and conveyed perfectly the sense of superiority Ayckbourn intended. Rachel Hancock, as his suspicious wife, provided a perfect foil, and never lost her dramatic poise. Ben Oakley and Fiona Watt gave us a perfect, upwardlymobile couple, with Ben handling the news of his wife's infidelity with considerable aplomb. Fiona Watt's performance was perhaps the most promising for the future, but it would be unfair even to single out individuals in a performance like this, where everything depended on teamwork and all-round effort.

J. A. O-B. and I. M. K. L. must get their share of the credit not only for their prompting(!) but also for their dedication which was so richly rewarded with three fine presentations. Acting and drama at St. Peter's, on this evidence, can look forward to a bright future. Richard Ambrose