NORTHANGER ABBEY

NORTHANGER ABBEY

DOT Productions at Brentwood Theatre

04.07.15

Some discussion among the party in row F as to whether this was to be a murder mystery or a love story. Comedy of manners, it turned out, with the accent on the comedy.

Bryan Johnston's light-hearted, ingenious re-working of Jane Austen's first novel is given a lively outing – first date of a six week tour.

An energetic young company of six actors take on ten roles, against a simple set in which the Regency windows of Bath are replaced by the stained glass of the Abbey.  

Anya Hamilton plays our heroine, the pale bookworm whose innocence is tested by the social minefields of Bath society and by the imagined Gothic terrors of the Tilney's family seat.

Two suitors vie for her hand – Andrew Lindfield's hearty Thorpe, bragging about his horse, and Adam Elliott's witty Tilney, mercilessly teasing Miss Morland about the Gothic novel. Elliott also steals a scene or two as Tarquin, Thorpe's long-suffering horse, and even momentarily portrays Dorothy, the ancient retainer, in the literary parody.

Victoria Tyrrell is Tilney's sister, the reluctant chatelaine of Northanger, as well as Catherine's mother and a vivacious Isabella Thorpe.

The Allens, country folk of Fullerton, are played by Roslyn Ure, resplendent in a galleon of a dress and a quiz of a hat, and Leigh Stevenson, who also makes the most of Mrs Thorpe, long lost friend of Mr Allen's wife.

Craig Gilbert's production is finely paced, colourfully if eccentrically costumed, with many inventive touches: the Rank gong at the start, the deception and disappointment from Chapter 11 neatly done in two seconds, and the cast not only arranging their own minimal furniture between scenes – excellently done – but also accompanying their manoeuvres with lively a cappella music.

LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN

LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN

DOT Productions at Brentwood Theatre

05.07.13

Oscar Wilde's first big hit – A Play About A Good Woman - cleverly blends comedy and drama in equal measure, with melodrama and satire on social mores into the bargain.

Greg Whitehead, for DOT Productions, has chosen to present it as a sort of rom-com/sitcom/soap, which means that a deal of the style is sacrificed to accessibility.

There is much to enjoy, however, especially the ingenious use of a cappella wordless song as overture and punctuation. The trio at the start of Act III speaks volumes, and the East Enders underscore at the end of that act is another neat touch.

Many of the characters are amusing, or affecting, occasionally both, with some excellent diction. Rebecca Ayres makes a vulnerable, wronged Lady Windermere, "behind the age" despite her tender years – her proposal scene with Samuel Perren's Darlington is touchingly done. A company of six players doubles and trebles with some skill: Perren is also the musical-comedy Aussie Mr Hopper. Joanne Seymour has two major roles, the indiscreet Duchess of Berwick and the mysterious Mrs Erlynn. Martin Prest, as the uncomprehending Windermere, tends to overplay the grimaces and the bluster, but has a strong presence and a clearly-drawn character.

The setting is necessarily simple – this tour will visit gardens and barns as well as theatres – the costumes a colourful gallimaufry of styles and periods.

THE MARTYRS' WALK

THE MARTYRS' WALK

DOTProductions on the streets of Brentwood

31.03.12

Stood with the people of Burnt Wood to witness once more the life of William Hunter, weaver's apprentice, little more than a boy, who would not bow to the Church of Rome, its bishops and its priests, and met a terrible death by burning in the reign of Mary.

From the crossroads, and his early life, to the ruin'd Chapel, here doing the office of Saint Paul's, past The Swan, The White Hart and the Lion & Lamb to the Common, beyond the sign of the Artichoke, where he stood bravely at the stake as the fires consumed him. We met on the road his Parents, his accuser Justice Antony Browne, his brother Robert who led us through the tale, and the Bishop of London, that men called Bloody Bonner.

I myself played some small unlook'd-for part in these sad proceedings, being roped in, as the saying has, to personate one John Laurence, priest and Black Friar, who met the self-same fate two days after William, in Colchester Town.

The Martyr's Walk was street theatre devised and presented by DOT productions, and supported by Brentwood Borough Council and the Brentwood Renaissance Group.