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Ambitious telling of a winter's tale
Cadfael: The Virgin In The Ice Malvern Festival Theatre *** BILLED as a
classic medieval murder mystery, this world première stage adaptation of
Ellis Peters' Cadfael: The Virgin In
The Ice marks the 25th
anniversary of Middle Ground Theatre Company. In this production we meet Brother Cadfael, played by Gareth Thomas (Blake's 7), in the bleakness of winter 1139, civil war raging, with half of Worcester destroyed. Survivors flee northwards and include three innocents, seemingly lost without trace in the frozen Shropshire countryside. Cadfael sets out to ind the trio, brother and
sister Yves and Ermina Hugonin (Hannah Burton and Daniel Murray) from a
noble family and nun Hilaria, (Jenny-May Darcy) whose defiled body is
found frozen solid in a brook as the sleuthing monk uncovers murder,
treachery and human weakness on his way. Atmospheric backdrops and effective lighting
create visually pleasing settings for the priory and abbey, and the
falling snow and sound effects add to the feel of the harsh landscape in
outdoor scenes. An interesting use of film projections adds
pre-recorded action, treetop rooks and moving maps to chart our
travellers' progress. Traditional Gregorian chants together with
original music composed by Ray Mytton and Lynette Webster and featuring
lutes and rebeks are notable and delightful features of this play. However, this was clearly a difficult book to
adapt, which made it hard for the audience to fully engage with
characters or become drawn in on an emotional level. Despite the promise
of intrigue and a tale of passion gone astray, I felt that this passion
failed to come across to the audience, and despite a couple of twists
there seemed to be a lack of suspects or clues or red herrings which to
me are the whole point of such murder mysteries. Michael Lunney, who adapted this piece, could
perhaps have trusted his audience more as it seemed that some points
were laboured and we were left nothing to think through or put together
for ourselves. Too many scene changes also broke the narrative
flow, and at times there were sniggers from the audience as trees were
wheeled on and off by hooded monks. Much of the action occurred to one
side of the stage and perhaps more could have been made of the space,
and ‘private' conversations held a couple of feet from other characters
could have been moved to a different room to make the action more
credible. Perhaps hard to avoid in a monastic mystery, but
there was also a distinct lack of female characters with only two of the
fifteen strong cast being female, one of whose characters, the frozen
nun, sadly dead from the start. However, it's no mean feat to take on a
protagonist as well-loved as Brother Cadfael, and whereas his creator
Ellis Peters had twenty novels in which to show us his character, his
strengths and his failings, Middle Ground have a mere two acts. Fans of
the Cadfael books, radio dramas or the 1990s ITV series starring Derek
Jacobi will no doubt be fascinated to see how Michael Lunney has brought
this new adaptation to the stage. Revelations regarding Cadfael's own life history towards the end of the play will enhance their enjoyment, although it may have added more interest to see such personal backstory threaded throughout the whole piece. Good support from Alain le Gaucher (Christopher Berry) the mercenary leader of the outlaws, the eventual hero Olivier du Bretagne (Tom Kanji), deputy Sherriff Hugh Beringar (Paul Hassell) and badly beaten monk Brother Elyas (George Telfer). Speaking to the dashing James Palmer after the
curtain fall (he plays the equally dashing Evrard Boterel), it is clear
that this is a very tight-knit production company, whose warmth,
enthusiasm and professionalism is shared by the whole team. One of the
UK's most acclaimed production companies, I will be interested to see
what they turn to next. Not a perfect production, but an ambitious one,
with some very aesthetically pleasing touches, and a must-see for all
die-hard Cadfael fans. Cadfael moves on to Colchester, Buxton, Cardiff
and Stevenage. For more details of the tour and Middle Ground
Theatre Company see
www.middlegroundtheatre.co.uk. To 27-04-13. Amy Rainbow
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