DANGEROUS CORNER. To 8 February.
Eye
DANGEROUS CORNER
by J.B. Priestley
Eye Theatre To 8 February 2003
Tue-Sat 8pm Mat Sat 4pm
Runs 2hr One interval
TICKETS 01379 870519
boxoffice@eyetheatre.freeserve.co.uk
Review Timothy Ramsden 25 January
Country house drama in a rural Assembly Room: a fine setting for a production which catches the mood in physical detail more than in vocal.'Theatre For Sale' the ad. brought Tom Scott from South London to East Anglia at the start of the 1990s, to renovate and reopen this elegant theatre in Eye, Suffolk (there's an Eye over the border in Cambridgeshire, threatening unwary theatregoers with cross-Eye problems).
Established in the Georgian Assembly Rooms, complete with fine Adam fireplace that's suitably incorporated into the publishing family's country-house set for Priestley's 1932 debut drama, the auditorium's entered via a courtyard only the box office has frontage on to Broad Street. More importantly, the theatre offers an experience like that of watching theatricals in a family drawing-room.
I wish Tom Scott's production played more to this. Instead, many cast members end up emoting as if they had a proscenium arch to reach across. No wonder several audience members reacted as if the play were a comedy-thriller. (The tense action pre-echoes An Inspector Calls, with a death being the catalyst for revealing moral responsibility all round an initially complacent family group.)
Two performances stand out: Richard Mainwaring's bounder has a smooth intelligence and an ability to see beyond instant reactions. And Sinead O' Keeffe's Olwen suggests the intensity that could conceal a crime for the sake of love.
Jamie Chapman works intelligently but is a generation too young for the central character. You need to sense half a lifetime's emotional experience behind Robert Caplan's insistent digging for truth. Chapman's manner and appearance suggest an unwise youth, altering the focus and tipping the balance of sympathy.
Yet there's intelligence in the physical interaction. The anxious eye-flickers between Freda and Olwen when a visiting novelist mentions their dead relative's name, Rachael Holoway's tense unease when she realises she's about to be identified in adultery such details come over richly in this environment.
There's a static quality. Yet the final waltz as Priestley replays time and the dangerous corner is avoided provides a moving finale. I'll keep my eye on this theatre (and promise no more puns). It's admirable a theatre can survive, putting on some unfamiliar work, in such a small community. There's a sense of purpose here, and a welcome individuality.
Freda Caplan: Hannah Khalil
Robert Caplan: Jamie Chapman
Betty Whitehouse: Rachael Holoway
Gordon Whitehouse: Philip Stevens
Olwen Peel: Sinead O' Keeffe
Charles Stanton: Richard Mainwaring
Miss Mockridge: Jean Heard
Director: Tom Scott
Lighting: David Hermon
2003-01-26 19:25:04