BE NEAR ME To 16 May.
London/Tour.
BE NEAR ME
by Ian McDiarmid adapted from the novel by Andrew O’Hagan.
Donmar Warehouse To 14 March.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm.
Audio-described 28 Feb 2.30pm (+Touch Tour 1.30pm).
BSL Signed 16 Feb.
Captioned 23 Feb.
TICKETS: 0870 060 6624.
www.donmarwarehouse.com
then tour to 16 May 2009.
Runs 2hr 45min One interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 January at Palace Theatre Kilmarnock.
A sternly impressive piece.
However it fares in London or on tour, this National Theatre Scotland production triumphed at its Kilmarnock premiere. Some 20 miles south of Glasgow, Kilmarnock’s in East Ayrshire, where tensions, between new and old, Scottish and English, Catholic and Protestant, are vividly coloured within the overall greyness of this play’s emotional palette and physical appearance.
Moments of happiness arise tenuously out of the action framed by Tennyson’s prayer-like poem that provides the title and frames the script. Speaking it is English, Oxford-educated Catholic priest David Anderton, working in largely Protestant Dalgarnock; a name apparently rife with linguistic associations, and subject to the region’s economic devastation over the last half-century.
With his poetry and beloved classical music, Anderton arouses the criticism of his sick housekeeper Mrs Poole; Blythe Duff’s spicily edgy performance catching the close response of a local person caught up with Anderton’s ‘foreign’ mind-map. Later, when the first act’s inevitable indiscretion brings Anderton to court, the Sheriff can hardly understand his English accent.
Forever backing the immediate scene is a shadowy line of seated characters, an ever-present environment amid which, in the fragile dark, open space Anderton tries living with his own memories and high culture of Chopin and Tallis. This dark is punctuated by rival Green and Orange songs, while Ian McDiarmid’s adaptation moves with vertiginous fluidity through the clash in which the priest will inevitably be caught.
It’s in the second act McDiarmid’s own performance settles from a brilliant display of the actor’s virtuoso style (he’s always fascinating to watch and vocally compelling) as a more composed, and deeply moving portrayal emerges. His soul seems to lose all that holds it together, swamped as rude everyday actuality, the tribal assertions and disaffected youths, clamour round him, with music and language reduced to its most trite and banal (there’s rare comedy when teenage Lisa’s laconically truculent testimony appears enlarged on video). There are decent lives among the shadows too, while Anderton’s attempts to hold his own ground give him the status of persistence, if not heroism, as John Tiffany’s tightly-bound production makes every movement, and every moment, count.
Mr Nolan/Mr McCallum/Mr Hamilton QC: Jimmy Chisholm.
Mrs Poole: Blythe Duff.
Mrs Nolan/Angela Path/Mrs Fraser: Kathryn Howden.
Father David Anderton: Ian McDiarmid.
Cameron/Father Damian: David McGranahan.
Mark: Richard Madden.
Lisa: Helen Mallon.
Mrs Anderton: Colette O’Neil.
Mr Poole/Voice of the Sheriff: Benny Young.
Mr Dorran/Bishop Gerard: Jimmy Yuill.
Director: John Tiffany.
Designer: Peter McKintosh.
Lighting: Guy Hoare.
Sound: Gareth Fry.
Musical Director: Davey Anderson.
Assistant director: Abbey Wright.
Associate sound: Matt Padden.
2009-01-26 12:52:28