DOLLY WEST'S KITCHEN. To 22 October.
Pitlochry
DOLLY WEST’S KITCHEN
by Frank McGuinness
Pitlochry Festival Theatre In rep to 22 October 2005
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Wed & Sat 2pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval
TICKETS: 01796 484626
Review: Timothy Ramsden 17 August
Scotland does Irish drama proud.Pitlochry ends its 2005 repertory with this modern Irish play, seasoned with resplendent performances - especially of female characters across three generations.
If the male playing doesn’t reach quite the same level, it’s because casting needs within a resident company make for compromises; but performance levels remain high. And this kitchen is a place where, as the title suggests, women dominate. If not, people with political barriers between them would never assemble there in 1942.
Beside the official war, in this house so near the Ulster border, a middle-class Englishman’s presence is provocative to Irish patriots. So is a gay American serviceman, though his presence draws out sexual truth. In such a society, no wonder Dolly’s tolerance as she cheerfully mixes food is taken as moral turpitude.
But this is really mother Rima West’s kitchen (intriguing to see Pitlochry’s audience accepting four-letter words from this proper, matriarchal figure). Clare Richards shows her dignity and perception, while Helen Logan’s Dolly has an easygoing acceptance of people as ingredients in a wholesome mix, contrasting the male Anglo, and homo-, phobia. Standing at the huge table dominating Monika Nisbet’s set, mixing ingredients as she does the people around, Logan’s Dolly is a bright, energetic, life-loving person, a youthful, less covertly manipulative version of Rima.
Then there’s young Anna, taken in as an orphan, smilingly compliant until approached by English visitor Alec. The ensuing argument (if it can be called that; he collapses at her surprise verbal onslaught) is impressive, involving 2 outstanding members of this year’s Pitlochry company. Jonathan Coote is the English gentleman to the hilt, while Aoibheann O’ Hara vividly reveals Anna’s nature. Given one of those charity upbringings intended to purge the shame of poor or doubtful origins, her smiling front, as manipulative as Rima, conceals the bite of a young adult determined never to be taken advantage of again.
Twist’s detailed, often gloriously acted production makes the play’s relationships crystal clear, while Nisbet backs her upfront set with a distant impression of mountains; a misty distance set against an immediate present, it sets the context for McGuinness’s distinctive drama.
Dolly West: Helen Logan
Rima West: Clare Richards
Esther Horgan: Jacqueline Dutoit
Justin West: Dominic Brewer
Ned Horgan: Gregory Gudgeon
Anna Owens: Aoibheann O’Hara
Alec Redding: Jonathan Coote
Marco Delavicario: Stewart Cairns
Jamie O’Brien: Hywel Morgan
Director: Benjamin Twist
Designer/Costume: Monika Nisbet
Lighting: Jeanine Davies
Voice coach: Alex Gillon
Fight director: Raymond Short
2005-10-24 19:13:40