OEDIPUS by Blake Morrison Northern Broadsides

Tour

OEDIPUS
by Blake Morrison

Northern Broadsides touring to 16 November 2001
Rune 1hr 30min No interval

Review Timothy Ramsden at Halifax Viaduct Theatre 15 September

Drama’s oldest detective play comes up well in Broadsides territory.Like his fellow Yorkshire poets Tony Harrison and the late Ted Hughes, Blake Morrison’s been pressed into service providing Barrie Rutter’s company with Northern-speak translations of classics. With the revival of Kleist’s The Cracked Pot providing the laughs, Sophocles gives the grief.

Northern Broadsides isn’t just about letting audiences hear flat-vowelled classics. It’s about a whole approach to a script as story in performance rather than as psychological investigation.

As no play’s been more subject to psycho-probes, it’s a good test of Broadsides’ approach. The virtues include clarity in both language and acting. Conrad Nelson’s Oedipus is an accessibly democratic ruler, chatting with his citizens, saving his rage for himself. The initial force of the revelations about his involvement in his father’s murder and mother’s incest strikes Sarah Parks’ Jocasta, the wife-mother who knows more of the past than her son-husband Oedipus himself. Slowly, ceaselessly she backs away as the truth comes out, seeking the solitude of the royal apartments.

It would be intriguing to see Nelson and John Branwell swap roles. Branwell, one of northern England’s best actors, plays Creon as a cautious politician, trying to take Oedipus aside from the crowd, tactfully defending himself against his brother’s charges of treachery. But later, Branwell shows plenty of toughness in removing the cause of trouble in the city of Thebes. No matter it’s his own brother and nieces he’s manhandling out of town. Tough times call for tough action and no sentiment.

The Chorus enter clicking stones in each hand; they assemble round an altar that could be a cairn sheltered by a dry-stone wall. Once again, Northern Broadsides show that world myths can be given a local habitation and regional sounds without losing any of their force.

Chorus (Spokesman): Andrew Vincent
Chorus (Messenger): Dawson Peters
Chorus (Shepherd): Dennis Conlon
Chorus (Servant): Christine Cox
Chorus: Andy Wear
Chorus: Andrew Whitehead
Chorus: Michelle Hardwick
Oedipus: Conrad Nelson
Creon: John Branwell
Tiresias: Barrie Rutter
Jocasta: Sarah Parks

Director: Barrie Rutter
Designer: Jessica Worrall
Composer: Conrad Nelson
Lighting: Kay Packwood

Touring with THE CRACKED POT to Stockton-on-Tees, Skipton, Liverpool, Scarborough, Bristol, Thoresby, Stratford-upon-Avon.

2001-09-24 01:34:21