PINTER AND A PAIR OF CHEKHOV'S SHORTS. To 8 December.

Tour.

PINTER AND A PAIR OF CHEKHOV’S SHORTS
by Harold Pinter/Anton Chekhov.

Compass Theatre Company Tour to 8 December 2007.
Touring Details: 0114 275 5328 www.compasstheatrecompany.com
Runs 2hr 10min One interval.
Review: Alan Geary 17 November at Lakeside Arts Centre Nottingham.

Bargain package of seriously absorbing drama.
Compass Theatre Company returns with yet another package of seriously absorbing drama. Directed as always by Neil Sissons, this time it’s two short pieces from Chekhov and, after the break, Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter.

The Chekhovs are transposed from Russia to Yorkshire; unnecessarily and rather awkwardly since there weren’t any peasants, even in Yorkshire, in the 19th century, and most Yorkshire people didn’t and don’t have Russian names.

In The Evils of Tobacco, a one-hander, Michael Onslow brilliantly captures a prissy, hen-pecked and rabbity individual who’s supposed to be giving a public lecture but instead lays bare the pathos of his whole drab and wasted life.

The Proposal satirises the narrow values of provincial Russia. Again, it’s funny, but Natalya (Amy Rhiannon Worth), plain and on the shelf, and pathologically nervous wreck Lomov (David Smith), are also pathetic.

The Pinter is beautifully done, with Onslow and Smith as the hit-men. That moment when Gus asks who their next victim is, then realises the unspoken truth, is masterly. The seediness, the bad plumbing and the Laurel and Hardy quality are all splendidly caught.

The best evening’s theatre at the Lakeside for some time.

Nyukhin/Choobukov/Ben: Michael Onslow.
Lomov/Gus: David Smith.
Natalya Stepanovna: Amy Rhainnon Worth.

Director/Designer: Neil Sissons.

2007-11-20 00:21:03