BRASSED OFF till 21 June
Birmingham
BRASSED OFF: Paul Allen's adaptation of Mark Herman's screenplay
Birmingham Rep
Runs: 2h 35m, one interval, till 21 June
Review: Rod Dungate, 3 June 2003
Lacklustre dramatisation of a feel-good film
The miners' strikes of the 80s and the pit closures that followed in the 90s gave rise to a great deal of anger. They were times of extraordinary social changes too. Not surprisingly a number of dramas stemmed from these changes: Mark Herman's screenplay was one of them. The film, showing the struggle among the mining communities to retain self-esteem and pride, managed to recreate the atmosphere, the feelings, of those times. The miners' brass band is both a focus for the story and a metaphor for their community pride. The story itself is a heart-warming feel-good story, although with a bitter taste.
Film conveys much of its meaning through its mise en scene (the totality of the visual information it offers us) in a way the theatre cannot. The loss of this level of meaning, combined with Paul Allen's lacklustre adaptation, leaves the Birmingham Rep's/ Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse's production thin, two dimensional and devoid of emotional impact.
Allen's adaptation is inept. The play moves as a series of short (some very short) scenes, some of which fail to move the drama on. Others have characters speaking to noone or themselves and in the second half a long series of, oh dear, dreary moments of direct address: at this point the play becomes virtually the worst kind of agit-prop theatre.
Hayden Griffin's set does little to help. The worn-down depression of the mining town is transmuted into a poverty of settings. But it fails to communicate the depression and simply looks tatty. A large kitchen truck which continually rumbles on, around, off, and on again becomes irritating. I've seen school plays better designed. The many short two-hander scenes in the vast Rep space become lost and the drama dissipates.
Among this the characters and narrative cannot survive. Pity. There's a lovely burgeoning relationship between young miner-bandsman Andy and surveying consultant Gloria (Toby Sawyer and Lois Naylor). Naylor is an accomplished trumpeter too, with a warm and generous tone – we could do with more.
The set band pieces are great and the final ensemble terrific.
Danny: Bernard Kay
Phil: Ken Bradshaw
Sandra: Jo-Anne Stockham
Jim: Bill Fellows
Vera: Kate Rutter
Harry: James Hornsby
Rita: Janice McKenzie
Andy: Toby Sawyer
Gloria: Lois Naylor
Shane: Robert Czlapka, Paul Goddard
Craig: Calum Carrick, Callum Downes, Liverpool: Mikey Lightfoot, Jack Montgomery, Birmingham
Melody: Erin Davies, Poppy Jones, Liverpool: Katie Power, Eleanor Wakefield, Birmingham
Bailiffs: Adam Quest, Andy Weeks
Brass Bands
Liverpool: The Haydock Band, Port Sunlight Lyceum Brass, Wire Brass
Birmingham: Stourport-on-Severn Brass Band, City of Birmingham Brass Band, Jackfield Elcock Reisen Band
Director: Neale Birch
Designer: Hayden Griffin
Lighting: Johanna Town
Assistant Director: Nathan Marsh
Dialect Coach: Tim Charrington
Music Coach: Marc Robins
2003-06-04 11:00:52