| Sluggish and old-fashioned |
At the Torch |
| Torch Theatre - The Hired Man , Torch Theatre, Milford Haven , April 5, 2008 |
Peter Doran took over the helm at The Torch Theatre just ten years ago and one couldn’t help but see the gala opening of the impressive newly-refurbished building as some kind of birthday present: not only has Doran been here longer than any other artistic director, he’s the first who has always seemed as if he regards it as home.The show he chose to launch the new £5.4million theatre, Melvyn Bragg and Howard Goodall’s 1984 musical The Hired Man, is one his favourites and we might allow him this indulgence, even if many would question his assessment of it as “the Great British Musical”. To be honest, I was more impressed with the symbolism of the occasion than with the merits of the production – but, hey, the Torch has always been as much about what it stands for than any radical theatre experience. Its strength lies in its position at the heart of the community, its unique friendly ambience and in the sense of continuity. I first came here to review nearly thirty years ago, just when a young actor called Peter Doran was working with the fledgling new company, and at the gala opening of the new theatre there were not only what looked like the whole of the Welsh arts establishment but the same faces that worked here in the 1970s. The original London production of The Hired Man received what might be called mixed reviews (although it did get the Ivor Novello award and several Olivier nominations) and, despite being revived several times, now seems somewhat dated not only in its subject matter – the lives of rural men and women trapped as wage-slaves both on the land and in the pits – but in its structure, where the musical numbers are dropped into the sketchy narrative. It may have seemed like Brecht for Brits at the time but after Les Mis and the rest its appeal can no longer be in its novelty. What’s surprising is that Melvyn Bragg, that tough-talking intellectual polymath, Our Greatest Living Cumbrian, has written such a load of sentimental twaddle – although anyone who’s attempted one of his novels (one of which is the basis for this musical) may not be surprised at the lack of rigour. The story of a rural community - originally set in Cumbria but here transposed to Pembrokeshire- is like a rather old-fashioned inferior TIE project with a Catherine Cookson romance superimposed on the history lesson as we follow the fortunes of John and Emily Goodridge and their children first at the turn of the century and then during and after the First World War. It is, in effect, only Howard Goodall’s music that gives The Hired Man any sort of status – and it also gives the Torch company and the community participants an opportunity to offer some musical pleasures as they grasp enthusiastically the more melodious moments in a score that isn’t always conventionally tuneful, but always expressively interpreted by the band under James Williams. While it’s the female chorus that excels here, especially in the more emotional second half, there are some strong individual performances from the leads, Danny Grehan and Aimee Thomas. With twenty-five on stage (with just under half of the cast professionals) not many have the chance to make an impact, but it would be a lesser production without Elin Llwyd’s exciting performance as their teenage daughter. She’s one of the half-dozen or so graduates from the Royal Welsh College of Musical and Drama in this production, in itself evidence of the vital role Peter Doran’s Torch plays in the development of Welsh theatre. Otherwise, it isn’t just the book that disappoints. Doran’s production is sluggish and old-fashioned on a familiar-looking Sean Crowley set. Ironically, I suspect it would work better with fewer actors instead of trying to emulate a Cameron Macintosh West End spectacular. |
Reviewed by: David Adams |
This review has been read 1864 times There are 81 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
