St Nicholas
Tue, 17 July 2007, 08:05 amGordon the Optom1 post in thread
St Nicholas
Tue, 17 July 2007, 08:05 amThis story is a blend of Edgar Allan Poe and Dylan Thomas’s ‘Under Milkwood’.
The set is a simple stool and small table in a back street pub in Dublin. It is here that we find the local newspaper hack and play reviewer (Peter Holland) having a drink. In a lilting Gaelic tone he starts to relate an event that took place quite recently.
After giving a lousy review to the latest play at the Abbey Theatre, he met the leading actress and was totally infatuated by her. When the cast moved to London he felt compelled to pursue. It was here that he met William, a strange fellow with a rich hypnotic voice. Strange events were to follow.
Melissa Cantwell – straight from her tremendous success with ‘The Goat’ – has deftly guided Peter through this sinister chronicle. The show was in two 35-minute acts and the time just flew. Holland used the whole stage and moved in and out of the audience as he related the story. His eye contact and body language completely captured your imagination and attention. Matthew Marshall’s multitude of very subtle light changes and well thought-out light positions worked wonderfully at the hands of operator Anna Dymitr Hawkes. Likewise the very subtle sound effects of the pub and street sounds by Kinsley Reeve were convincing.
This was a beautifully presented, truly professional performance, and the fascinating tale within a tale about the old man and the watch was related with tears in Holland’s eyes.
WARNING: There was a lady in the front row, who looked as though she had sucked a dozen lemons dry, and her partner who re-read his programme a hundred times before walking out, just after the interval. Don’t come along prepared to see the warm and cuddly announcer Peter Holland who graced our sitting rooms for a few decades. Here we have a raw – very raw - actor, who could make Billy Connolly blush with his assortment of four lettered words. This is an actor performing superbly, not a chat with Peter. Brendan Beahan and Richard Harris at their worst would be nearer the mark.
A different and engrossing tale. Stunning performance.
This story is a blend of Edgar Allan Poe and Dylan Thomas’s ‘Under Milkwood’.
The set is a simple stool and small table in a back street pub in Dublin. It is here that we find the local newspaper hack and play reviewer (Peter Holland) having a drink. In a lilting Gaelic tone he starts to relate an event that took place quite recently.
After giving a lousy review to the latest play at the Abbey Theatre, he met the leading actress and was totally infatuated by her. When the cast moved to London he felt compelled to pursue. It was here that he met William, a strange fellow with a rich hypnotic voice. Strange events were to follow.
Melissa Cantwell – straight from her tremendous success with ‘The Goat’ – has deftly guided Peter through this sinister chronicle. The show was in two 35-minute acts and the time just flew. Holland used the whole stage and moved in and out of the audience as he related the story. His eye contact and body language completely captured your imagination and attention. Matthew Marshall’s multitude of very subtle light changes and well thought-out light positions worked wonderfully at the hands of operator Anna Dymitr Hawkes. Likewise the very subtle sound effects of the pub and street sounds by Kinsley Reeve were convincing.
This was a beautifully presented, truly professional performance, and the fascinating tale within a tale about the old man and the watch was related with tears in Holland’s eyes.
WARNING: There was a lady in the front row, who looked as though she had sucked a dozen lemons dry, and her partner who re-read his programme a hundred times before walking out, just after the interval. Don’t come along prepared to see the warm and cuddly announcer Peter Holland who graced our sitting rooms for a few decades. Here we have a raw – very raw - actor, who could make Billy Connolly blush with his assortment of four lettered words. This is an actor performing superbly, not a chat with Peter. Brendan Beahan and Richard Harris at their worst would be nearer the mark.
A different and engrossing tale. Stunning performance.