Price's - Sherlock Holmes : The Case of the Blue Carbuncle by Conan Doyle
This was the most complete piece of theatre
in the Festival. A period piece, every element in the production helped
to create that sense of period: the programme, the set with the designer's
eye for significant detail, the period costumes, the acting and thereby
the creation of individual living characters and the convincing development
of the plot - all of these sent me to Baker Street, Covent Garden market
and back to Baker Street.
Jason Douglas and Fergus Grant-Stevenson made a most stylish duo as Holmes and Watson: Holmes very suave and civilised, Watson very stolid and down to earth, both very much members of the 'gentry'. By contrast the others: Peterson [Donovan Hutchinson], Baker [Mark Ruddock] the scholar fallen on hard times, and the guilty and pleading Ryder [Nathan Kohner] were convincingly subservient .... and at Covent Garden Breckinridge [Donal Grant-Stevenson] was clearly not going to be ordered about by any 'toff', and 'the old woman' [David Leacock] and the 'glum lad' helped to create the 'Market'.
Well done the Director [Andrew Dowdall], and well done all of you.
The Directors, Brian Corry and Jonathan Henry
produced a good piece of theatre, and the song [familiar to some of us]
quoted on the excellent programme was most poignant. The set, and its use,
suggested the claustrophobic, nervous atmosphere in which the soldiers,
perhaps unwittingly, hid their fear behind their individual masks: quarrelling
or forced humour or tense silence, whilst Sgt. Mitchem, convincingly played
by Brian Corry, aware of the dangers that faced them, imposed his realistic
will and command over them all. The voice of the Japanese radio operator,
with its appalling significance, and the arrival of the Japanese soldier
heightened the tension, and the need for Sgt. Mitchem to try to restore
confidence in the men .... the entire cast, admirable before this crisis,
now built up the tension to the final crescendo of the terrifying radio
message. There was strong individual characterisation from everyone, including
the Jap .... and although the diction was sometimes unclear, it was, nevertheless
a good piece of theatre.
This was, in many ways, a most dramatic performance. The set and the use of space was admirable, and the acting, and thereby the creation of character and the rapid development of the plot were convincing. Philip [Colin Armstrong] was impressive as the tormented murderer, and he was well supported by the rest of the cast. However much of the diction was weak, either not projected or too fast, and without foreknowledge of the play, I would, at times, have been lost.
A good programme, and a good effort by the Director, David Hala.
These 'pantomime tales' were most entertainingly performed, and of course, made no great demand on either the players or the audience. The Directors, John Hope and Jonathan Neilly, did well to present "the spectacle, humour and bawdiness" retained in the modern commercial versions. The entire cast, greatly enjoying themselves in their jolly costumes gave much enjoyment to the audience. The programme was excellent, and it was very good to see so many of the House taking part in the production.
In real terms this is technically a difficult play to stage, easy for
the TV cameras to cut from one real location to another, very much more
difficult in the confines of the School playing area. To persuade an audience
in the 
Central Hall that they are from moment
to moment, and in the space of 35 minutes, in the following locations: Outside
the School, in the Coach, at the Zoo, in the Bird House, in the Children's
Zoo, at Dunluce Castle, on the Beach, on a cliff etc, etc, is a difficult
task, indeed the dramatically important Fairground had to be left out for
obvious reasons. Nevertheless the Director, David Swann, and the entire
company, made a bold attempt so to persuade us. The central conflict is
between the attitudes towards 'the kids' held by Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs -
and Nioclas Morton and Austen Armstrong were very convincing in these parts,
and the remainder of the cast: the other teachers, the bus driver and 'the
kids' provided the varied material in the varied locations that gave rise
to that conflict very well .... the flirting girls, the bullies, the liars,
the smokers, the 'good' ones all played their part. The crucial scene on
'the cliff' between Carol [Nicholas McKimm] and Mr Briggs was movingly acted
... Briggs became more of a human being at last. Had it been possible to
create the climactic scene at the Fair the humanizing of Mr Briggs would
have been complete ... without it the ending lacked conviction. Nevertheless
well done all of you, good to see so many so enthusiastically involved.
A very good programme.
The central dramatic conflict in this play concerns Ronnie Heron [Jonathan Bleakley] the escaped and unbalanced vandal's obsession with the need to tell the world 'THE TRUTH', as he saw it, over the air. And there is more conflict: the DJ's [Richard Martin] frantic desire to survive -[was it a real gun?]; the Police Sergeant's [James Shilliday] anxiety to avoid ridicule - [was it a documentary they heard or was it a real hold up?], and the Police Constable's [Stephen Alderdice] anxiety to prevent a crime. The cast acted well, and built up considerable tension, but that tension must be maintained or increased, but, alas, the co-ordination became faulty, lines were forgotten, and too often there was a hiatus ... it was a case of bad luck on the night, because, obviously, the Director [Jamie Shilliday] and the cast had put a lot of work into it. A very good programme.
With little choice the Directors, Graham Miller
and Richard McClure directed this play as a static, yet amusing, duet between
the School Boilerman [Simon Beatty] and the Groundsman, Fred [Ryan Shirlow]
with a brief visit from the caricature Headmaster [James Weale] .... and
backing this, according to the stage direction, the boiler should have been
faintly heard throughout. It was well acted, the account of the 'great gangling
yobs' as well as all the other maniacal behaviour in the School, was clearly
and amusingly delivered. The possible hints of the grotesque climax were
missing: the faint sound of the boiler throughout, and Fred's 'small cry'
and the crash of his cup on the floor at his own mention of Knackenhead,
and so the climax, black comedy indeed, came as a surprise. We then realised
who the maniacs were. A good effort on the stage with material that was
written for the radio.
In this static play where, apart from coming in, getting a drink from someone off-stage, and sitting at the bar, there is no action, and apart from the intrusion by the stranger with his awful significance, there is very little plot, the whole emphasis in the production has to be on the creation of the individual characters, not through action - there is none - but through the dialogue. The cast did create for us 'the regulars at the local pub' and each one was an individual living character. However, although they were all sitting looking straight at the audience, there was some poor diction, and some awkward forgetting of lines. Nevertheless it was an admirable effort, and there were some high moments, but it is difficult to make a static conversation piece dramatic, even when a mysterious yet very ordinary looking stranger arrives, and gradually reveals his plan.
Well done the Directors [Connor Skates and Stephen Greenlees] and the whole cast. An excellent programme.
"A working class comedy of manners looking
at family life, and the influence of materialism" - That is how the
play was described at the beginning of the script.
It proved to be difficult to bring it to life because we have all seen these characters in one sit com or another so many times, and the situation, the 'conflict' in the play is so very familiar.
However, Betty [Patrick Gilfillan] was well played, her social snobbery, her medical pretension [poor Syd], and her muddled attitude towards Christmas were all made very clear.
The rest of the characterization was good, within the limits of the play's content. Some of the diction was weak. The ending, Betty's revelation of the price of her new suite, whether mistakenly or deliberately or her part did not quite come off. The set was very good.
