Three Tall Women
Sun, 10 Feb 2008, 09:21 amGordon the Optom1 post in thread
Three Tall Women
Sun, 10 Feb 2008, 09:21 am Chatting in the bedroom of a 90-year old lady, is the elderly dear herself (Joan Scafe), her carer (Ann Speicher) and a young solicitor (Megan Burley). We witness a typical afternoon with this aging, incontinent pathetic soul, yet who on the other hand is still a powerful, manipulative, self-centred old stirrer. Whilst it is quite sad, for anyone with an elderly relative, the play is a true black comedy, with plenty of laughs and cringes as you see your elderly family members paraded before you.
In the second act the past is examined in much greater detail. The loves, expectations and failures. A visit from old lady’s son (Lewis Johnson) brings further emotions.
Edward Albee’s scripts are meticulously constructed, and except for perhaps Alan Bennett, no-one can completely capture the sentiments and the inner thoughts of their characters so well. An Albee director must be capable of demanding the highest standards of acting, timing of action and voice, emotion, subtlety, expression – the demands are endless - so for a local community group to take on such a challenge must have been a worry. However with Vanessa Jensen’s cleverly and well-observed directing, the outstanding set of actors (special congratulations to Joan), all with difficult, lengthy monologues all delivered word perfect. Intricate personality changes were conquered, and the show progressed faultlessly.
The fine-looking costumes (Brenda Stanley) and an outstanding set (David Goodchild) which was well dressed (Val Riches and Barbara Lovell), superbly lit, just topped off the whole production.
A five star show that will be remembered for years. Many congratulations.
Chatting in the bedroom of a 90-year old lady, is the elderly dear herself (Joan Scafe), her carer (Ann Speicher) and a young solicitor (Megan Burley). We witness a typical afternoon with this aging, incontinent pathetic soul, yet who on the other hand is still a powerful, manipulative, self-centred old stirrer. Whilst it is quite sad, for anyone with an elderly relative, the play is a true black comedy, with plenty of laughs and cringes as you see your elderly family members paraded before you.
In the second act the past is examined in much greater detail. The loves, expectations and failures. A visit from old lady’s son (Lewis Johnson) brings further emotions.
Edward Albee’s scripts are meticulously constructed, and except for perhaps Alan Bennett, no-one can completely capture the sentiments and the inner thoughts of their characters so well. An Albee director must be capable of demanding the highest standards of acting, timing of action and voice, emotion, subtlety, expression – the demands are endless - so for a local community group to take on such a challenge must have been a worry. However with Vanessa Jensen’s cleverly and well-observed directing, the outstanding set of actors (special congratulations to Joan), all with difficult, lengthy monologues all delivered word perfect. Intricate personality changes were conquered, and the show progressed faultlessly.
The fine-looking costumes (Brenda Stanley) and an outstanding set (David Goodchild) which was well dressed (Val Riches and Barbara Lovell), superbly lit, just topped off the whole production.
A five star show that will be remembered for years. Many congratulations.