WAGSTAFFE THE WIND-UP BOY To 6 June.
Colchester.
WAGSTAFFE THE WIND-UP BOY
by Jan Needle adapted by Adrian Stokes.
Mercury Theatre To 6 June 2009.
4 June 10.15am, 2pm.
5 June 10.15am, 4.45pm.
6 June 7.30pm.
Audio-described 6 june.
Runs 1ht 50min One interval.
TICKETS: 01206 573948.
www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 May.
Full of sound and fury.
Jan Needle’s clockwork calamity takes to the stage a second time (Kneehigh Theatre roured a different adaptation some years ago). Put crudely- (a very apt way to put it - Wagstaffe is a boy rivalling Roald Dahl’s characters for repugnance, in bodily functions and personality. His parents scurry overseas to escape him.
He meets his match with an HGV, which splatters him on the road (the A12 – adapter Adrian Stokes gives Needle’s story a local habitation). Medical science saves him with clockwork insertions, operated by a huge key fixed in his back. Whether through learning his limitations under a lorry, or humanised by mechanical innards, Wagstaffe flies to America to save his parents. They’re being forced by a post-Barnum showman to do death-defying feats in which death seems to come ever-nearer to not being defied.
Colchester’s Mercury company go at all this with hectic ensemble skill. Yet it’s an occasion when a semi-permanent ensemble (including both adapter and director) shows its danger. Everyone seems to have got on a bit too well. A strong-minded outside intelligence looking at things afresh could have challenged the louder-and-faster-equals-better approach permeating much of the action.
A rickety raised semi-circle of planking encourages this charging around It’s a celebration of the pointless ingenuity of Heath Robinson-designed machines. But the spirit attaching to the adaptation overall lacks Robinson’s quirky invention.
Good actors – some very good – from the Mercury regulars provide a series of cameos, many over before they’ve established very much. So the energy is often pointless; nothing emerges from below the hectic surface. Looking round the family audience for which the show’s designed there was limited mirth and little excitement.
Things start taking-off at the interval, when Wagstaffe becomes airborne, with a sudden glimpse of the clockwork lad flying to the rescue clinging to an aircraft’s wheel. It’s the start of a development in him, culminating in saving his parents and coming to terms with spoilt yet abrasively sympathetic US millionaire’s daughter Mandy Badsox. But the Mercury, so advanced in most of its programming and production, has a way to go in theatre for the young.
Mrs Williams/Dustman Charlie/Medical staff: Christine Absalom.
Mr Huddersfield/Wagstaffe Double/Policemen/Lorry Driver/Street Sweeper/Hotel Manager/Ticket Hawker/Pilot/Announcer/Medical Staff: Tariq Bhatti.
Mandy Badsox/Paramedic Hayley/Mts Porter/Nurse: Clare Humphrey.
Mr Williams/Dustman Fred/Medical Staff: Ben Livingstone.
Dr Rhondi/Wagstaffe Double/Mrs Badsox/Passer-By/Rubberneck/Boilersuit Man: Maria Lohmann.
Mr Badsox/Pedaloe Man/Curate/Paramedic Aubrey/Medical Staff/Bus Driver/Policeman: David Tarkenter.
Wagstaffe: Michael Thomson.
Theocritus Troutfish/Fatty Dicken/Porter/Headmaster: Tim Treslove.
Director: Janice Dunn.
Designer: Joanne Scotcher.
Lighting: Emma Chapman.
Sound: Marcus Christensen.
2009-06-03 23:50:58