Richmond.
UNRIVALLED LANDSCAPE
by Benedict Fogarty, Will Gore, Ernest Hall, Archie Maddocks, Lara Muth, Caitlin Shannon.
Orange Tree Theatre 1 Clarence Street TW9 2SA To 13 July 2013.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Thu 2.30pm (+ post-show discussion), Sat 3pm.
Runs 2hr 25min One interval.
TICKETS: 020 8940 3633.
www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 July.
Orange Tree bears good dramatic fruit.
With the sad, but at some point inevitable news that Sam Walters is to step-down next year as Artistic Director of Richmond’s glorious Orange Tree Theatre, it’s apt this production is currently playing.
In the original room above the Orange Tree pub, then in the present building, Walters has offered dramatic landscapes unrivalled in any theatre of such a size over such a period.
He has championed new writers. New directors too since 1985, with trainees assisting over a season then sharing a final slot. This year it’s Alexander Lass and Nadia Papachronopoulou. Their programme’s a sophisticated affair. For the Orange Tree nurtures young writers too, finding various ways to perform their work.
Five actors portray characters, some intertwining across several locally-based stories. Green acres feature, Richmond Park in Lara Muth’s spooky opening, where shots from a deer-cull add tension to the mysterious ‘Tourist’ who pops-up interrupting Andy’s strange solitary vigil. And Kew Gardens in Archie Maddocks’ fairy-tale inflected meeting between a Bahraini prince and a Caribbean park-keeper.
There’s nothing fairytale to her daily life – or his, conscious of his family’s tyranny back home, fearing assassination if he’s recognised. Both characters recur in Ties by Benedict Fogarty, examining responsibility during the final moments of pregnancy.
Ernest Hall goes solo with his ‘act’ by a comedian on the point of release from prison – actual incarceration or the straightjacket of trying to stay funny as a career fizzles-out. It’s a pity not to hear some of the ‘Man goes into a bar’ jokes. Andy’s memory dries-up just when humour’s required; whatever’s left at career’s end, it isn’t the material that’s sustained the work.
Will Gore and Caitlin Shannon both present aspects of Kate, a disillusioned journalist determined to show an editor what she can do at a street incident drawn from the recent past, and Gary, organising ecological maintenance in a world where he’s been thrown on the compost-heap.
It makes for an intriguing evening, if one that unsurprisingly shows its influences in places. Among a strong cast, Nicola Alexis and Kieron Jechinnis offer particularly convincing pictures of lives under realistic strain.
Killing Time by Lara Muth.
Andy: John Bowler.
A Tourist: Sarah Malin.
Director: Alexander Lass.
Kizzy and the Prince by Archie Maddocks.
Kizzy: Nicola Alexis.
Faris: Ash Hunter.
Director: Nadia Papachronopoulou.
Goodbye From Me by Ernest Hall.
Andy: John Bowler.
Director: Alexander Lass.
Portman Avenue by Will Gore.
Andy: John Bowler.
Faris: Ash Hunter.
Gary: Kieron Jecchinis.
Kizzy: Nicola Alexis.
Kate: Sarah Malin.
Director: Alexander Lass.
Ties by Benedict Fogarty.
Kizzy: Nicola Alexis.
Faris: Ash Hunter.
Director: Alexander Lass.
The Getaway by Caitlin Shannon.
Gary: Kieron Jecchinis.
Kate: Sarah Malin.
Director: Nadia Papachronopoulou.
Designers: Sam Dowson, Katy Mills.
Lighting: Stuart Burgess.
Movement: Katy Lowe.
Literary Manager: Henry Bell.
2013-07-10 12:01:00
