|
|
|
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Dudley Little Theatre Netherton Arts Centre **** NETHERTON dutifully set the scene by
providing Narnia-like temperatures with a promise of snow later for the
opening night of this adaptation of C S Lewis's 1950 children'
fantasy novel. It is not the easiest production to stage,
changing from a bedroom through a wardrobe into a fully-fledged, snow
engulfed country in the blink of an eye, or at least without too much
scene shifting or long periods of blacked out stage but DLT made a
decent fist of it. It also demands creatures such as fauns, beavers,
wolves and . . . odd things as well as humans, or sons of Adam and
daughters of Eve as the Narnians call us, er, them - Peter and Edmund
and Susan and Lucy that is They are the evacuees sent, in 1940, to stay with
the professor in the safety of the country, with the Professor, played
by Maurice Felto, appearing strict but you could detect there might
have been a twinkle in his eye. He looks remarkably like Father
Christmas in Narnia while his housekeeper, the stern, humourless Mrs
McCready, played without a hint of warmth by Karen Whittingham, looks
remarkably like the white witch in the icy kingdom the other side of the
G-Plan. Peter, played with the sort of style a chap
needs by Gareth May, is their leader while Edmund, a bit of a bounder
played by Leo Prince, is a thoroughly bad egg but comes up trumps in the
end and almost dies for his pains. Susan, played with a motherly touch by Julie
Bywater is the practical one while the baby of the family, Lucy, played
by Jane Williams, is, well, a bit wet – although she does find the
entrance to Narnia through the wardrobe - which helpfully had a
lion painted on its doors. Transformation is achieved through lighting,
curtains and revolving scenery, which was simple and effective, to take
us to Narnia where we meet Mr Tummus the faun who is probably the
world's worst spy and kidnapper. He is played with a mix of timidity and
terror of the wicked white witch by Andy Rock,
And well might he be afraid of the White Witch
who is sly, cruel, mean and spiteful - and those are her good points. I
suspect no one nicks her peg in the dressing room! Aided by her henchmen Maugrim, the wolf head of
secret police, played by Ben Savage, and Ginarrbrik, the witch's dwarf
and sleighdriver, played by Simon Hawkins, she rules Narnia with an icy
fist. But our intrepid humans join forces with Mr and
Mrs Beaver, played by Tony Stamp and Lyndsey Parker, and their children
Katie Wilkinson and Harry Clee, and set out to meet up with the true
king of Narnia, Aslan the Lion and although Phil Sheffield looks the
part the huge recorded roar somehow does not go with his voice, It all leads up to the final battle between good
and evil, carried out in dim light and in slow motion which is very
effective and much more telling than rushing about swinging swords and
hoping it looks like a scene from Zorro. Speaking of looking real, Susan is given a bow by
Father Christmas for the fight ahead and goes into battle dutifully
carrying it – but without arrows a bow is just . . . well a stick.
Please someone put a late order in to Father Christmas for a quiver and
some arrows. Director Rebecca Clee has kept a tight rein on a
show that could so easily have run away from her with plenty of scenes
to fit in, something which makes the second half a little disjointed and
jerky, but all in all she mostly keeps up a decent pace and the
enthusiastic and well drilled cast jolly things along nicely. I have doubts that fantasy books such as this,
The Wizard of Oz, or The Hobbit and so on are fully at ease in stage
adaptations, this one was by Glynn Robbins. They have so vast a canvas
to cover but full marks to DLT for keeping true to the book and making
such a good fist of it to produce an enjoyable evening for the whole
family. To 08-12-12. Roger Clarke |
|
|
|
