THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL. To 29 October.

Keswick

THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL
by Lisa Evans from the novel by Anne Bronte

Theatre By The Lake In rep to 29 October 2003
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Wed & 27 September 2pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS: 017687 74411
Review: Timothy Ramsden 31 July

Strong-minded adaptation muted by staging.I admit to a serious disqualification for reviewing this production. It's not the antipathy I have towards most stage adaptations of novels, for Lisa Evans' version casts new light on the original, revealing rather than imposing.

No, it's the vivid memory of Gwenda Hughes' original production, a traverse staging in Birmingham Rep's sizeable Studio. The shifts between two locations and time zones swung naturally across the stage, in a way only part achieved by altering the lighting focus on Keswick's end-stage.

And there was Janice Mackenzie's searing portrait of Helen, suffering marriage to a drunken bully and then the necessity of bearing the secret. Jessica Lloyd presents the character clearly, but her tight-lipped reserve doesn't reach the depth or detail Mackenzie achieved.

Though Martin Johns' set, with its tilted picture-frame, mountain-slab map sections lying slate-like across it (Adam Waddington's stiffly yearning Gilbert would climb mountains for Helen's heart) and scurrying-cloud rear cyclorama, creates an apt, unsettled wildness, the silent moments as actors move between scenes and lights cross-fade lowers the dramatic temperature.

Lighting is usually cold-coloured or subdued putting a dark barrier between audience and action. This suits the mood but has a distanced, muting effect.

Acting's the major factor, though. Apart from a welcome forcefulness among the Markhams, it's David Tarkenter's horrid husband who grips most, especially in two scenes where Huntingdon's viciousness shows indirectly. One sees him revelling in his young son's drinking and swearing, the other his slow dissolution and death.

There's nothing incompetent or substandard in this production. The applause had energy and warmth the sound of people who were genuinely moved rather than being polite. A fair number stayed for a post-show discussion and spoke enthusiastically about the production.

Doubtless earlier experience does disqualify me from being objective memories (accurate as ever, no doubt) of the Birmingham production kept flooding back throughout the evening. What there had seemed radical, concise and an exciting insight into Anne Bronte's imagination here seemed more conventional, at times melodramatic, in narrative and playing.

Still, if you weren't at Birmingham then, you might well try Keswick now.

Mrs Markham: Amanda Bellamy
Rose Markham: Alison Darling
Mr Lawrence/Walter Hargrave: Roger Delves-Broughton
Rachel: Kate Layden
Helen: Jessica Lloyd
Lady Annabella Lowborough: Corinna Powlesland
Huntingdon: David Tarkenter
Gilbert Markham: Adam Waddington
Arthur: Wyll Greenwell/Adam Russell/Gregory Webzell

Director: Ian Forrest
Designer: Martin Johns
Lighting: Nick Beadle
Sound: Paul Bunn

2003-08-01 11:48:03