THE CROCK OF GOLD. To 14 August.
London
THE CROCK OF GOLD
by James Stephens adapted by Simon Startin
London Bubble Theatre Company Tour to 14 August 2005
TICKETS: 020 7237 1663
ticket-sales@londonbubble.org.uk
Or at venue one hour before performance
Review: Timothy Ramsden 13 July at Waterlow Park
Irish fantasy parked in London.I suspect there might have been an awful moment during the process of adapting James Stephens' Irish novel of fairies and philosophers or, more likely, during rehearsals for Bubble's annual tour of London parklands when it became sickeningly clear that this just would not work. The intricate folk-like background, the journey in search of true values and a full sense of life, which might have made this initially seem just the thing for a promenade production turns out to be intractable.
For once with their summer shows, there's an extended opening scene in Bubble's tent, setting up the crock of gold's theft and the central Philosopher character's journey. But the magical beings and gods who crop up during the subsequent perambulations are inadequately evoked by actors in leprechaun beards or a few folk leaping about and exclaiming lines. As we set out around Highgate's Waterlow Park there were hills to climb as well as glades to be discovered. Dramatically, though, it was downhill all the way.
Actors work hard to give point and inject life into the material. There are some impressive moments, with darkness soon descending on the late-hour performance and theatre lighting shaping a wooded space. But the comedy is forced, the story remains remote, its Philosopher-searcher never becoming vivid. People met with on the way are pantomimic, cross-dressed, or clownish leprechauns.
Dramatically the pace is uneven. The opening invites interest in characters who then disappear. In a second scene more characters arrive, one an old woman bent double who mutters her way (easily audible as she carries her own modern amplifier) into, across then out of the scene wanting a cup of tea. Alas, she never gets one; we only learn the philosopher was glad when she'd gone.
There's a lot of narration. Glimpses of dialogue are surrounded by actors describing and explaining. At times the evening perversely seems less a dramatisation than a non-dramatisation, leaving the woods to do the theatrical work. Until, suddenly, all somehow comes right in a brief concluding scene. How? I'm not sure I knew. I know I no longer cared.
Cast: Craig Byrne, Daniel Copeland, Linda Dobell, Rachel Essex, John Fairfoul, Charlie Folorunsho, Sophie Russell
Director: Jonathan Petherbridge
Designer: Pip Nash
Composer: Craig Byrne
Soundscape: Lewis Gibson
Leprachaun Director: Eric MacLennan
Dialect coach: Rachel Nicholson
2005-07-14 16:58:27