At Hijinx Theatre |
| Hijinx Theatre- To Have and to Hold... , Beaufort Theatre, Ebbw Vale , May 23, 2001 |
| I’ve been trying to work out, ever since sharing Hijinx Theatre’s latest production for community audiences, including people with learning disabilities, just what it is that makes this show, and indeed the company, so remarkable. The answer, I think, is in the directness, the lack of pretence and pretentiousness, the honesty of this and everything the company makes. The word, I guess, is integrity - in so many senses. Of course making theatre for (and sometimes with) people too often excluded from such social activity is undoubtedly A Good Thing - that’s not the point. You don’t have to patronisingly imagine yourself as disadvantaged in order to respond to To Have and To Hold… What you do have to do is allow yourself to respond to the essential theatricality and force of this story of two young people who fall in love. You have also to realise that theatre doesn’t have to be complex or witty or allusive or spectacular to be powerful, because Gaynor Lougher and Glenys Evans’s co-devised and co-directed piece is staggeringly simple in form and content. But to create something of such simplicity and effectiveness (as a tough old cookie of a critic, I for one had a lump in my throat by the end), you have to have to be able to draw on years of experience and skill, and To Have and To Hold… seems to me to be the product of a wealth of sensitivity, empathy and perception from Mss Lougher and Evans, two longstanding Hijinx members. They have a responsive cast in Bethan Mason as the young woman who dreams of marriage, Nathan Sussex as her caring brother and Melissa Vincent as his glamorous wife, and an outstanding (despite the ensemble ethos) Dyfrig Morris as the entertaining and unlikely Prince Charming. They all perform beautifully Paula Gardiner’s music, an essential part of the show. Within the narrative lots of issues are raised (although the big one, sex, is noticeably avoided) that makes it so much more than just a love story - like all good theatre, To Have and To Hold… asks questions and exposes contradictions. Like any theatre, as well, it is targeted at a particular audience but unlike too much theatre it does so with a breathtaking openness which regards its audience with affection rather than affectation. |
Reviewed by: David Adams |
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