EDINBURGH: AN EVENING WITH GARY LINEKER til 18th August

AN EVENING WITH GARY LINEKER
By Arthur Smith and Chris England
Harland Hamstrings Theatre Company

The Subway to 18th August
18.45

1 h 30 mins. One interval.

TICKETS 0131 225 6766.

Review Danny Braverman 15 August 2002

Young Company impress and entertain
To those of us who are English football fans, the evening in 1990 when England lost on penalties to Germany in the semi-final of the World Cup may never be topped as a moment when the emotion of disappointment achieved tragic proportions. Arthur Smith and Chris England's play has now become something of a small classic, enshrining that evening forever in a well-made comic play around the lives of four typical English people and one eccentric German woman.

The Harland Hamstrings are a company from a school in Hull, where teacher Alan Hunter has used his considerable energy and charisma to give young people some extraordinary theatrical experiences. The company for this play are a mixture of experience (Richard Foot is on the brink of a professional career) and youth (Robert Guillat is sixteen and this is his first Edinburgh show).

It seems that the first tenet of the company's creed is to entertain - and this they do very well. The comedy comes from situation and character and the actors rarely fall into the trap of playing for laughs. As a result, the audience is drawn into the heightened emotions of the evening and the play achieves its natural rhythm and gets the laughs where it matters.

All the acting is engaging and the actors establish believable relationships with each other. Claudia Milsom brings an effective, quiet sardonic quality to Monica and Nicola Wilkinson impresses as much with her understanding of subtext as with her ability to produce a pretty authentic German accent as the 'lovely Birgitta'. And we can see why Richard Foot will soon be a name to watch out for as an actor, his portrayal of Bill subtly hints at the personal turmoil going on behind the macho exterior.

This company is doing five shows on the fringe, all well-known entertaining pieces, and they should be saluted for the breadth and depth of their achievements.

Bill - Richard Foot
Monica - Claudia Milsom
Birgitta - Nicola Wilkinson
Ian - Andy Wilson
Dan - Robert Guilliatt

Set Design - Pete Biglin, Alan Hunter
Sound - Phil Aitchison
Lighting - Stephen Knaggs
Stage Management - Pete Biglin, Luke Conlon, Tom Biglin
Assistant Director - Tom Biglin
Producer and Director - Alan Hunter

2002-08-16 19:41:42