THE MAKING OF MOO To 12 December.
Richmond.
THE MAKING OF MOO
by Nigel Dennis.
Orange Tree Theatre To 12 December 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 3pm & 26 Nov 2.30pm (+post-show discussion).
Runs 2hr 20min One interval.
TICKETS: 0208 940 3633.
www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 21 November.
That old-time religion gets a revivalist bashing.
This production seems something of a mission for Sam Walters. The Orange Tree’s Artistic Director devotes two pages in the programme to recording his religious experiences; or institutional attempts to superimpose religion upon him.
In 1957, it seems, dramatist Nigel Dennis caused a ruckus at the Royal Court with this satire on religion. A colonial administrator discovers that his memorial project for his corner of Africa – a new dam - is viewed by locals less as an engineering triumph than the killing-off of one of their gods.
So he scripts – or scriptures – a new religion, named from the prevalence of vocal cows on his lawn. The new faith takes him over, his wife acquiring a reputation for immortality as he eventually grows into a wheelchair-bound, William Blake-like patriarch.
There are ceremonies and services, while religious language veils the violence with which the cult protects itself. It seems somewhat thin grounds upon which to attack religion, which might have passed muster in the conformist fifties, but today comes close to suggesting every Christian is a card-carrying Intelligent Designer, and any devout Muslim a bomb-toting assassin.
Thinking like that suggests an atheistic fanaticism to match any religious obsession. And Dennis is woefully Euro-centred. White Europeans occupy much more of the play’s territory than the local people, though Ben Onwukwe makes subtly comic points as the household servant reluctantly shoehorned into popedom.
Still, the production provides plenty of laughs at the colonial administration’s expense, once the serious-seeming opening has passed. Nobody does a mix of confidence, shocked doubt and spleen better than Philip York, while Amanda Royle’s governor’s lady has the smoothness of her class.
If a Shavian humour against the British upper-classes makes the first part amusing, sub-Shavian whimsy stalls dramatic energy after the interval. However, the sinister treatment of British solicitors far from the Pax Britannica and the glint-eyed determination with which Christopher Staines invests the next generation of Compton priests incorporate a sharp menace into the comic mix.
It’s just that, again, it’s the Whites who stay in focus, while the locals remain a mere backdrop in their own land.
Man/Acolyte: Stuart Burgess.
Assassin/Acolyte: Jermaine Dominique.
Police Sergeant/Acolyte: Joel Kangudi.
Frederick Compton: Philip York.
Donald Blake: Duncan Wisbey.
Elizabeth Compton: Amanda Royle.
William: Ben Onwukwe.
Mr Fairbrother/Walter Compton: Christopher Staines.
Mr Willis/Mr Fosdick: James Woolley.
Director: Sam Walters.
Designer: Tim Meacock.
Lighting: John Harris.
Sound/Music: Matthew Strachan.
Fight director: Philip d’Orleans.
Assistant designer: Robyn Wilson.
2009-11-23 02:32:35