MR A's AMAZING MAZE PLAYS. To 6 January.
Scarborough.
MR A’s AMAZING MAZE PLAYS
by Alan Ayckbourn.
Stephen Joseph Theatre (The Round) To 6 January 2007.
Mon-Sat 7pm Mat 23, 27-30 Dec, 6 Jan 2.30pm no performance 25-26 Dec, 1 Jan.
Runs 1hr 45min One interval.
TICKETS: 01723 370541.
www.sjt.uk.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 December.
Still amazing after all these years.
For its first act, this is merely another children’s play by Alan Ayckbourn. That “merely” includes taking audiences into the convincing yet surprising world of young Suzy. It seems ordinary enough; except that father got lost on a ballooning jaunt, mother has problems with her more verbaverbally-demanding words, while the pup Suzy capriciously named Neville has grown into a full-sized, and very affectionate dog.
Affectionate to all except sinister new neighbour Mr Accousticus, who’s taken the long-empty big house where Suzy and Neville used to play. In this theatre-in-the-round, where designer Pip Leckenby provides just a few ramps, Jason Taylor’s lighting and Ayckbourn’s writing, along with Anja Rodford’s wide-eyed, wary Suzy, create a sense of a forbidding place. And Terence Booth’s greasily smiling, secretly threatening manner turns up the volume of menace.
Though while Mr A(yckbourn)’s doing this, silence-loving Mr A(ccousticus) is doing the opposite, stealing voices. When Neville’s bark falls victim, Suzy and the dog search the big, dark house to recover it.
That’s when Ayckbourn the lover of unpredictability steps in, recreating his childhood wish that things would turn out different each performance. It’s what led him to write this play in 1988, starting a line of young people’s work we must hope’s not finished yet.
For as the pair search, alternative routes appear. Two Storytellers propose different choices and audience votes decide the way taken (hence the title's plural). Then memory’s called into play as the characters have to escape the way they came. After the onstage rush and audience shouting this entails, the contrived, symbolic conclusion is a mere formality. What matters is order and family stability are restored.
Rodford provides aptly positive energy and initiative (Suzy has a sense of both innocent and sinister adult duplicity), well-matched by the animal instinct of Tom Sherman as big, furry Neville. Becky Hindley is clearly keeping-up appearances in a world of hard-grind, grateful for Mr Accousticus’ attentions in her loneliness. Terence Booth is master of the sneering smile and curdling voice, while Adrian McLoughlin has a cheery casualness as their neighbour. Ayckbourn’s direction (with Andrew Panton), like the panoply of sound effects, is naturally masterful.
Suzy: Anja Rodford.
Neville: Tom Sherman.
Mother: Becky Hindley.
Father: Mark Stratton.
Mr Accousticus: Terence Booth.
Mr Passerby: Adrian McLoughlin.
1st Narrator: John Branwell.
2ns Narrator: Maggie Service.
Directors: Alan Ayckbourn, Andrew Panton.
Designer: Pip Leckenby.
Lighting: Jason Taylor.
Sound: Ben Vickers.
2006-12-22 16:17:32