MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS To 27 June.
Scarborough.
MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS
by Ron Hutchinson.
Stephen Joseph Theatre (The Round) In rep to 27 June 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 23, 28, 30 May, 20 June.
Ruins 2hr 5min One interval.
TICKETS: 01723 370541.
www.sjt.uk.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 May.
Civil War in a production office.
Troubled birth-pangs lie behind many a masterpiece. Writer Ron Hutchinson makes this comically clear with Victor Fleming’s 1939 film of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. It had been George Cukor’s film, till producer David O Selznick sacked him, dragging Fleming from Munchkinland, while commandeering Ben Hecht to re-write the script.
Hecht, a smart writer with a broad cultural frame, was one of the few people in America who’d never read the 1000+ page novel. In Moonlight he’s given one week to adapt it.
Locked away, with only bananas and peanuts for company (Selznick being convinced these foods alone stimulated the brain), producer and director enact the story as Hecht sits typing. Ridiculous? Of course – especially as Selznick insists on sticking entirely to Mitchell’s dialogue, yet no-one ever looks at the book.
And comic, right up to Hecht’s derision of the final line. But touching too on serious matters. The script-writer refuses to include heroine Scarlett slapping a young Black slave, while the producer insists both novel and audience demand the blow, until the director finds a visual solution. It’s a rare moment of co-operation between Hecht and Fleming, who more usually decry each other.
Hecht alone seems aware of European politics and his outsider existence as a Jew in America, while the Jewish Selznick believe himself happily integrated, unaware of the anti-semitic origin of Beverley Hills. Yet the producer gains sympathy for his vision of cinema and determination to make a masterpiece against received Hollywood wisdom that Civil War films don’t make money.
At its Tricycle premiere, the play was hilarious; here it’s amusing with occasional loud laughs. It’s not simply a matter of second time round. Director Chris Monks encourages a high-energised comic style from the four actors. Expertly done, it would work for thirties US wise-cracking wit. Here, though, humour lies inside the characters. The difference affects Kieran Buckeridge’s Selznick particularly, while John Killoran’s Hecht finds moments of truth on the sidelines and Pete Gallagher’s imposing Fleming bestrides the stage with authority. Enjoyable enough, but more compact intensity instead of open explosion would have intensified the impact.
David O Selznick: Kieran Buckeridge.
Ben Hecht: John Killoran.
Miss Poppenghui: Clare Corbett.
Victor Fleming: Pete Gallagher.
Director: Chris Monks.
Designer: Jan Bee Brown.
Lighting: Jason Taylor.
Sound: Paul Stear.
Dialect coach: Caroline Hetherington.
Fight director: Kate Waters.
2009-05-24 02:18:30