MARY ROSE. To 26 October.

Nottingham

MARY ROSE
by J.M. Barrie

Nottingham Playhouse To 26 October 2002
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Mat 17,24 October 1.30pm, 19 October 2.30pm
Audio-described 22,23 October
BSL Signed 25 October
Runs 2hr 40min Two intervals

TICKETS 0115 941 9419
Review Timothy Ramsden 9 October

Mary Rose - it sounds like a fated ship and this leaden production sends its dramatic vessel to the bottom with no hope or desire for rescueIt's hard enough to make Barrie's story of a young woman who keeps disappearing on a Hebridean island convincing in these tough days, when we're more realistic and even our fantasy needs a hard edge. But Richard Baron, despite a strong track record to date, including extensive work in Scotland from where he imports some redoubtable cast members is all over the place in this production. If he has any faith in the script himself, it's not been transmitted to his cast.

There's enough of the ghost story to make an audience creep and as with The Turn of the Screw no explanation is offered. Mary went missing for 10 days as a girl, and never knew more than an hour had passed. Returning four years into her marriage, she's carried off by strange voices for 25 years, returning to a world she no longer knows.

Why is this delicate mystery acted out like a crude pantomime? On the sidelines, Kern Falconer's argumentative family friend and local cleric would be a fine Dickensian caricature, but he offers little of the cosiness the character suggests. As Mary's father, David Delve has a line in roaring that seems genetic, coming out with force in his daughter.

For, while Mark Dexter eventually recovers something from his initial silly-ass naval suitor, Eilidh Macdonald in the crucial central role offers nothing between naïve childishness and harsh shrieking. The result's to make Mary's disappearances a symptom of psycho-imbalance. Which rationalises Barrie's mystery by reduction, draining its power. It also creates a combination of unctuousness and shrillness which makes you hope her voices will carry her a long way for a long time.

Eileen Battye's mother emerges relatively unscathed, owing, I suspect, to the actor's innate judgement. A few moments grip: Mary's horrified wonder at suddenly finding her nearest and dearest aged a generation, or meeting the tiny son she left as a grown-up; her final exaltation among the stars. But it's insufficient to compensate for the over-emoted surfaces and demonstrations of coarse acting to which this gentle fantasy's been subjected.

Mrs Otery: Janet Michael
Harry: Andrew Watson
Mr Amy: Kern Falconer
Mr Morland: David Delve
Mrs Morland: Eileen Battye
Mary Rose: Eilidh Macdonald
Simon Blake: Mark Dexter
Mr Cameron: Michael Thomson

Director: Richard Baron
Designer: Edward Lipscomb
Lighting: Mark Pritchard
Sound/Composer: Jon Beales

2002-10-10 01:12:11