|
|
|
|
|
|
Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
|
|
Worthy homage to a masterpiece
Rob Phillips (Warnie) (right) clearly has
problems of his own – and only young Douglas (Eliot Silver) is taking
any notice. Denise Phillips (Joy Gresham) and Tony Mackey (C S Lewis)
have thoughts that are elsewhere. Shadowlands Highbury Theatre Centre, Sutton Coldfield ***** LET'S begin by giving a medal to the
splendid people backstage. There are many scene changes and there is
plenty for them to do – but they do it so unobtrusively that there is no
reason to be aware of them as they work their silent transformations,
time and time again, behind a sombre curtain. The other reason for the seamless shifts from one scene to the next is that they are largely played alternately, in front of Oxford settings or in front of the curtain. This is down to director Nigel Higgs, who has
spurned the script's request for the repeated lowering of a screen,
which would probably have added ten minutes to the running time.
Instead, he has deftly allowed one scene to melt smoothly into another.
It is the sensitive sort of touch that is his trademark. But he has had other things on his mind as well,
and it is clear that he has tackled them just as decisively, to produce
a version of William Nicholson's ultimately heart-wrenching masterpiece
that is quite wonderfully worthy of its subject matter. As generally tends to happen at Highbury, he has
a top-quality cast, immeasurably strengthened this time – because this
time Tony Mackey has turned up from Shropshire to make his first
appearance for four years. He plays C S (“Jack”) Lewis, creator of the
Narnia Chronicles and ultimately the world-weary survivor of the
tragedy that took away his wife, the poet and writer Joy Gresham, who
succumbed to cancer in 1960. This is a beautiful performance; a gentle
understating of the life, the love and the character of the man we see
here seeking enlightenment about his soul and questioning his God as he
seeks to understand why a loving God lets bad things happen. PERSONAL TRAGEDY As Lewis's personal tragedy unfolds, Mr Mackey's
voice finds a moving, tremulous little quaver that inhibits his
considerations of life's unfairness. He does not push it at us, but it's
there, beautifully accomplished, and it's a world away from the
happiness he has found until now. This is a performance of power and integrity that
deserves a counterpoint, and in Denise Phillips's Joy Gresham, the woman
who arrived in the all-male common-room enclave of Magdalene College,
Oxford, it receives one. We see her riding the shock-waves of disbelief
and transparent mistrust, admirably produced by Rob Gregory, Dan Payne
and Peter Molloy. But, more important, we see the slow growth of love
with Lewis. Again, this is a sterling contribution to a
production of heart-warming power – a production, indeed, that climaxes
to a throat-lumping finish that was accompanied on the first night by
the sort of pin-drop silence that audiences produce when they are moved
beyond measure. Rob Phillips is Major “Warnie” Lewis, bibulous
brother of the writer. He does like his drink, does Warnie. This is a
lovely performance, carrying the appropriate aura of a military past,
all mixed in with a clearly human side and a bit of a bumble. Mark Nattrass is a kindly doctor and young Elliot
Silver is safely entrusted with the role of the boy Douglas. I suspect that by the end it was pretty well
not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house time – a sniffy tribute to a towering
production. To 25-06-11. John Slim |
|
|
|
