TOUCH WOOD. To 28 August.
Scarborough
TOUCH WOOD
by Nick Warburton.
Stephen Joseph Theatre (The Round) In rep to 29 August 2007.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 2.30pm.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKETS:01723 370541.
www.sjt.uk.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 11 August.
A curse on the stage.
This is one of the most woeful pieces produced on a respectable English stage for some years. You wonder how much further a sinking feeling can go during the depressing experience of watching the rips widen in its slender dramatic fabric till credibility is torn to shreds, any remnant of humour or character in ruins amid the tatters.
Nick Warburton has contributed decent one-acters to Stephen Joseph lunchtime seasons. But here he’s locked in with a no-hope concept as things fall apart over two miserable hours.
It starts promisingly with big businessman Terence Munro in control at the top of his office tower-block, employing a new executive, the super-confident Anna. But it’s not long before another woman bursts through Munro’s manifold security, the unkempt Margaret, blaming Terence for her daughter’s moral danger as a dancer in one of his clubs.
Margaret will listen to no reason; her daughter has, after all, made her own decision to work there and doesn’t seem to regret it. But Margaret doesn’t need reason, instead she casts curses. For some reason her curse affects Munro who becomes a prisoner under his own desk.
Several points could be at work here. But reason, argument and logic have long abandoned this play. Eventually, the distraught Munro admits his clubs may have a seedy side. Yet it’s said as an aside, with no sense of factual or moral realisation. And this is a man who has claimed his word is his bond and never had it denied.
It’s manipulative Anne who demands a written contract, the character who retains the nearest of interest largely by saying little but working away while others fret at the script.
Tamara Harvey’s production and a fine cast work hard to seek life and laughter in this misbegotten moonshine. How they survived weeks’ rehearsal on it without invoking curses themselves is a mystery; two hours was way too much for me. Even Timothy Kightley, fine stalwart of so many productions in so many theatres and a convincing actor through-and-through can make little of his character. And when that happens, things are seriously wrong.
Terence: Mike Burnside.
Ken: Timothy Kightley.
Richard: Ben Lambert.
Anne: Ruth Gibson.
Margaret: Elaine Claxton.
Director: Tamara Harvey.
Designer: Lucy Osborne.
Lighting: James Farncombe.
Fight director: Alison de Burgh.
2007-08-18 09:43:20