GATES OF GOLD. To 11 April.

Manchester.

GATES OF GOLD
by Frank McGuinness.

Library Theatre To 11 April 2009.
Mon-Thu 7.30pm Fri-Sat 8pm Mat 2, 4, 9, 11 April 3pm.
Audio-described 8 April, 11 April 3pm.
BSL Signed 9 April.
Captioned 10 April.
Runs 1hr 35min No interval.

TICKETS: 0161 236 7110.
www.librarytheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 March.

Strong central pairing are play and production’s strength.
At this production’s haunted end, an old man dies, his head cradled in his lover’s arms. Doors fly open, golden light floods the stage, perhaps excessive theatricality. But it’s a moment worth waiting for, through some variable material. And excessive theatricality has a place here.

The fictional Gabriel and Conrad are based on actor and theatre director Micheal MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards, Irish in manner and pretence rather than by birth (they established Dublin’s Gate Theatre in 1928 and lived together a further half-century).

Ian Barritt’s tweedily imposing Conrad is ever-ready with a witty response to theatrical Gabriel’s taunts, warding-off grief. Oliver Cotton has the made-up face by which McLiammoir was known as he strode through Dublin streets (the pair established the city’s Gate Theatre in 1928), lending him a ghastly, death-mask appearance, a lurid palimpsest of youth devoured by age, with his strikingly-coloured dressing-own and pillow (which he idly strokes for comfort). The relationship between the men creates a moving stasis when the only topic is one that’s not to be mentioned.

While waiting for the end (Gabriel’s, or the play’s), author Frank McGuinness introduces a young nurse, plus visiting relatives. Five years ago, in the play’s British premiere at the tiny Finborough in Earl’s Court, the central relationship was its main strength. It remains so in Rachel O’Riordan’s well-staged Library revival, Cotton and Barritt giving contrasted performances that catch the play’s humour while never avoiding the deep feeling of these men for each other, however often it lies just beneath the surface.

But just as the Library’s direct style reached deeper into Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll recently than did that play’s elaborate London premiere, also the upgrading (or upsizing) of Gates from pub-theatre intimacy exposes how much the surrounding characters clog-up rather than develop the central relationship. Diego Pitarch’s detailed set, well-divided by James Whiteside’s lighting into the warmer bedroom and the colder comfort of the sitting-room, also clutters the stage. Whether it's play or production that needs more focus, there’s no denying the exploration of love facing the end in the strongly, subtly played central pair.

Gabriel: Oliver Cotton.
Conrad: Ian Barritt.
Alma: Caitlin Mottram.
Ryan: Patrick Knowles.
Kassie: Marty Cruickshank.

Director: Rachel O’Riordan.
Designer: Diego Pitarch.
Lighting: James Whiteside.
Sound: Paul Gregory.
Dialect coach: Patricia Logue.

2009-03-27 09:09:01