THE DEAD OF WINTER. To 26 July.
London
THE DEAD OF WINTER
by Jason Pyette
The Montana Actors' Theatre at Union Theatre To 26 July 2003
Tue-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 5min One minute
TICKETS: 020 7261 9876
Review: Timothy Ramsden 17 July
American social issue play performed with more conviction than refinement.A cast of 16 in a small space like the Union is unusual, but this youthful company plays with a concentration that effectively overcomes any lack of age range or limitation in character detail. And the freshness of attack keeps at bay the portentous 'issue' feeling that more sophisticated acting, or big-budget celluloid gloss, could bring.
Suitably set on a dark stage - ghostly painted leaves with a solitary, wintry tree at the back - the action moves from a realistically portrayed complacent small-town welcome to a nice, smiling newcomer through a violent shift in public mood when a disgruntled youth discovers Rob Hendricks' reason for coming to their community.
Jason Pyette soon enough settles into an account of public hostility to a moral outsider, showing how in such a tight-knit community, where anyone's business is everyone's, even the forces of law and religion only rule by public opinion's say-so.
It's relevant to Britain, not just the States as more than one recent tabloid-whipped outbreak has proved. But Pyette, or director Grant Olson, doesn't develop enough variety in the hostile crowd. Several character hints are not followed up.
However, as a girl with her own emotional agenda, Tylyn Carmean successfully develops a sense of divided feelings, while Jay Jerome has quiet authority as the latter-day Henry Fonda good-guy. Pamela Puckett's good too, as an anxious mother who precipitates the final plot-turn.
Acting, though, tends to let words lead behaviour, whereas in the increasingly fraught situation that develops words actually come after feelings and physicality. There's often room to relax: speeches can seem like jobs to be completed rather than outcomes of characters' responses to their situation.
Big emotional confrontations invariably loosen the brakes. Sound and fury overtake sense and character responses. When you're angry detail goes out of the window. A shame, for this company brings genuine involvement to their work. Among the Jacobs family especially, there's a real sense of struggling points of view, while the wider community is clearly outlined, with Donald P Mayer rightly refusing to cast his rejected lover in the villain role.
Sam Keane: Frank C Payn
Abby Jacobs: Tylyn Carmean
Rob Hendricks: Evan Leeds
Will Jacobs: Jay Jerome
Evy Jacobs: Pamela Puckett
Kelly Palen: Donald P Mayer
Jake Thompson: Brian Easton
Mary Simon: Samantha Pollington
Father Paul Thimlen: Sam E Stuart
Ed Colter: Joe Uhl
Sharon Colter: Dena Tippets
Sean Colter: Adam Stewart
Mildred Keane: Andi Everingham
Joe Peterson: John Parenteau
Annie Jenson: Mikuyla Veis
Micheal Grey: Arthur Shields
Director: Grant Olson
2003-07-20 13:04:21