| Moments of genuine theatrical magic |
At Hijinx Theatre |
| Hijinx Theatre Company- Chasing Rainbows , Morlan Centre, Aberystwyth , July 3, 2009 |
A fourth review of “Chasing Rainbows” had better say something fresh. Previous appreciative writers have focused on playwright Glenys Evans. Her seventy-minute, four-character fable is given life by the direction that works outstandingly through both acting and stagecraft. When the passengers arrive at bustling Paddington a piece of scenery that has served as a seat is swiftly inverted to become a triangle with a steep inclined plane. Louise Osborn has her cast approach the triangle, step behind it, and simultaneously drop and move forward. The illusion of disappearance down a Tube escalator is crisp, witty and, I would guess, wholly original. There is always going to be an ambivalence about a play that is both of and for adults with learning disabilities. To her credit Glenys Evans avoids the temptation of didacticism and keeps it story-focussed. She knows in depth the world of which she writes. The whole structure of life skills certificates, statements of choice and inclusion are there, but without intrusion. Julia Wyndham's stretched support worker stands for every front-line public service worker anyone has ever met. It is a tribute to the writing that when her Carol thinks she might just escape with her job Catherine Morris' Hayley blithely tells her she has told her dad about her “adventure.” When the playwright steps beyond the world she knows she is less assured. Government ministers do not travel on their own in a cramped second class railway carriage and work alone. Nor are they, in the main, stiff and stand-offish. I had last weekend described to me from first-hand the way in Hazel Blears works a room at a function. The over-visible public role rather forces a sociability that is paradoxically both elastic and brittle. Does this matter? It matters only in that writing, even in the lesser characters, should aspire to be true. After that quibble Adam Timms gives the role of Geoffrey Parker sharpness and energy. It was even more to his credit as the role required a dark suit and tie on the hottest night of the year. A play like this lives or dies by the quality of the central role. It is obvious that Catherine Morris and Louise Osborn have worked very hard. Early on her Hayley turns her head and swivels her eyes simultaneously. This is extremely difficult but the effect of the acting was that Hayley's world came over in a way that was real without ever being mawkish or patronising. The other reviewers have written of the back-projected animations. Both acute and enchanting they made, for example, the National Theatre's use of video in “the History Boys” look heavy-handed by comparison. John Norton's Kit got to sing the Clash anthem “London's Calling”. Even in an acoustic version it lost none of it asperity. A production with moments of genuine theatrical magic, it came to the Morlan Centre courtesy of the ACW's admirable Noson Allan/ Night Out scheme. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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