STEPPING OUT till 15 October
Pitlochry.
STEPPING OUT
by Richard Harris.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre In rep to 15 October 2003.
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Wed & Sat 2pm.
Audio-described: 30 August 8pm.
Pre/Post-show talks: 4,23 September,14 October.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKETS 01796 484626.
boxoffice@pitlochry.org.uk
Review Timothy Ramsden 2 June.
Entertaining revival of a popular play, if ultimately stronger on the laughs than the lives behind them.
A good situation comedy needs a strong situation and the skill to make character-based comedy out of it. Just as he made the popular Business of Murder for the post-Sleuth thriller era, Richard Harris contributed this successful piece to the repertoire of modern comedy. And Pitlochry seizes on it, as you might expect, with considerable effect.
What does drive people to evening-classes in tap-dancing? Here, a desire to perform's the least of it. The need for companionship, to have something to call your own in a constricting relationship, and other personal needs bring these people, of varying talents and as widely varied personalities, together.
Brash or shy, with secrets lightly-veiled or well-hid, these people's sad realities are hinted at long before they're revealed. The co-directors, from St Andrews' Byre Theatre, are stronger on the comedy than the cans of worms behind it. Grouped towards the later part of the action, some of these are anticipated by the production more strongly than others.
As in his other main comedy success Outside Edge Harris has an Ayckbourn-like disenchantment that keeps the comedy from becoming over-cosy. More of this percolating throughout is all the production needs to top-out its strengths.
Though there can be a tendency to overplay leading characteristics. Philip Hazelby's Geoffrey, for example, is soon stamped by his thin-voiced nervousness, so the character partly disappears behind the mannerism which becomes the thing we look out for. It's one of serial sitcom's weaknesses serving up what's expected
And the final showbiz showcase, in which even the most inept tapping characters show their skilled paces, tends to disclaim the play's reality. This is Pitlochry's professional company, not the local class, at work.
Still, there's a stock of strong performances along the way from a company who create a fine ensemble. Each character gains a distinct identity and there's a fair number to handle while several plot hooks dangle neatly and pacing switches smoothly between energetic and elegiac moments, group scenes and those where two characters reveal to us if not always to each other their anxieties and sorrows.
Mavis: Carrie Ellis.
Mrs Fraser: Janet de Vigne.
Lynne: Louise Bolton.
Dorothy: Shelley Otway.
Maxine: Louise Davidson.
Andy: Fiona Steele.
Geoffrey: Philip Hazelby.
Sylvia: Angela Darcy.
Rose: Lynette Clarke.
Vera: Amanda Beveridge.
Directors: Ken Alexander/Rita Henderson.
Designer: Geoff Rose.
Lighting: Mark Pritchard.
Co-choreographer: Carrie Ellisv.
Costume: Anya Glinski.
2003-07-01 21:41:59