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Ross was not always the boss
Ostrich Boys The Young Rep Company The Old Rep *** MAKING an adaption of a successful book
to a stage play cannot be an easy task and here Carl Miller takes Keith
Gray's book and makes a brave attempt at it. The plot's simple. Three lads, Sim, Kenny and
Blake, nick the ashes of a deceased mate named Ross and set off to
scatter them in Ross in Scotland.
Apparently Ross, when he was alive, had always
wanted to go there and be `Ross in Ross'. It's a thin ambition for such
a drastic measure but that wish has become the catalyst to the trios'
pilgrimage. The problems with the transition from book to
play seemed most prominent with the various location specifics that the
trio arrive at and, to tackle this, video and back projection was used.
The tiny stage of the Old Rep was actually packed with set which left
the only a small area for the main action. There's a lot in here to produce some physical
theatre elements, glitchy back projection video and a complex array of
additional characters representing various inner thoughts. Not all of it
worked but there were some moments of real comedy that outshone the
technical additions. The real breakthrough in the production came at
50 minutes though in with a fiery argument scene where Sim (Dore
Robinson) literally tore the walls down with a heartfelt emotional
display with nothing but some lighting, a platform and a solid
performance. Unfortunately five minutes later the play ended. and I
could not help wishing there had been more like that. Hannah Phillips admitted the development of the
play had presented some challenges but the cast overall showed some real
potential and, when given space to develop the scenes, dealt with them
well. Some fine individual performances just managed to pull the Ostrich
Boys' head clean out of the sand. Jeff Grant
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