NIGHT MUST FALL till 12 November.

Mold.

NIGHT MUST FALL
by Emlyn Williams.

Clwyd Theatr Cymru (Emlyn Williams Theatre) To 15 October then tour to 2005.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 2.45pm (Mold).
Runs 2hr 20min One interval.

TICKETS: 0845 330 3565 (Mold).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 October.

It happens on a dark and stormy night….
Emlyn Williams’ 1935 crime play shows how bad the climate is wherever in Wales the action’s set. There are references to nights drawing in, a remark of mild, early autumn evenings. Yet everyone’s evidently stuffed with cold: how else would nobody apparently notice they’re end up standing with a volatile murderer in a room soaked with paraffin?

Which shows how careful you have to be with plot-based crime stories. Compared with another nocturnally-titled thriller from some 30 years on, Frederick Knott’s Wait Until Dark, there’s a clear difference between that play’s intricate plot and limited character development, and Williams’ focus here on criminal psychology.

Night follows the classic murder story in making the victim extremely unpleasant. Terry Hands’ near-abstract production picks up on this from the start as a clock ticks slowly and the people around self-indulgent old Mrs Bramson’s wheelchair face different ways, stuck in isolated miseries. As she reads the sickly Victorian adventure East Lynne to the old tyrant, obviously for the umpteenth time, Jenny Livsey’s voice has a tomb-like resonance.

These are the lost – the subordinate, unattractive, dull; only Lynn Hunter’s bustling servant carries on, sure of herself. The limbo-like existence could stifle Williams’ realistic action but director Terry Hands’ pulls it back as John Cording’s cheery-mannered but clearly serious Inspector calls, bringing an outside energy. Subsequently, there’s productive interplay between moments of bustle around the stage fringes and long patches of uneasy or static life.

The other energy source is sinister young Dan. Lee Haven-Jones hits the psychology dead-centre: the surface cheeriness, the unpredictability that undercuts it all with a knowing look behind someone’s back, then the physical and mental collapse, as he curls over a table, one foot licking the chair side. He also seems dangerous from the start, perhaps too clearly so. Dangerously attractive too in this world. When Olivia’s drawn back, hair now flowing freely, it doesn’t matter it’s too late to prevent what’s happened. She’s there for magnetic Dan not crusading for the old lady’s life. And when murder sets the stage revolving, it’s both disturbance and excitement in this static society.

Olivia Grayne: Jenny Livsey.
Mrs Bramson: Dilys Laye.
Nurse Libby: Dora Jones.
Hubert Laurie: Charles Millham.
Mrs Terence: Lynn Hunter.
Dora Parkoe: Michelle Luther.
Inspector Belsize: John Cording.
Dan: Lee Haven-Jones.

Director/Lighting: Terry Hands.
Designer: Martyn Bainbridge.
Sound: Matthew Williams.

2005-10-12 14:49:30