DOUBT: A PARABLE

DOUBT: A PARABLE

Heads First Theatre Co at Brentwood Theatre

16.11.12

John Patrick Shanley's award-winning play exposes conflicts within a church school: a priest is accused of inappropriate friendship with a vulnerable boy, the first Black student in the school. [This is the Bronx in 1964.]

Performed in one act, the piece is designed to provoke discussion and debate – Act Two in the bar afterwards, perhaps.

Marjorie Dunn's production uses simple settings – a pulpit, an office, the garden that separates convent from rectory.

She has three fine actors to perform the parable. Paul Sparrowham is the tormented soul, struggling with his accusers and his conscience, preaching charismatic sermons as commentary on the action. His confrontation with the cold, intolerant, old-fashioned principal, Sister Aloysius [played not without warmth and humanity by Glenda Abbott] was powerfully dramatic. Contrasted with Aloysius was Sister James [Louise Bridgman], an idealistic young teacher who first, innocently, sows doubt in the older woman's mind, and "something is set in motion".

Despite its success, I found the play a little contrived, and wordy at the start, the two women too tentatively drawn. But Heads First's sincere treatment enabled us to share this exploration of suspicion, compassion and innocence, which is only incidentally about scandal within the Church of Rome.

LONDON MOZART PLAYERS

M&G CIVIC CONCERT

London Mozart Players at the Civic Theatre

18.11.12

A very popular concert to start the season, with a programme of favourites and one of this country's finest pianists at the helm.

Directing from the Japanese piano, Howard Shelley gave a bright, lively performance of the familiar Grieg concerto. As he points out, it's easier to keep this repertoire fresh if you're conducting as well as playing, and there was certainly no hint of staleness here: an imposing opening, followed by a jaunty development and a very rich cadenza. The instrumental introduction to the Adagio was played with a beautifully blended orchestral palette, the piano entry finely judged.

Before the Grieg we heard Mozart's Don Giovanni Overture, performed with very positive attack and dramatic urgency. And after it, the celebratory euphoria of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Pleasing to hear the various voices so distinctly; the playful Vivace followed by an energetic Allegretto, with a thrillingly muscular Allegro con Brio to finish.

A bonus was the informative, and witty, pre-concert talk, including Spohr's reminiscence of playing the Symphony under Beethoven's baton, and Mozart writing his overture the night before the performance, kept going by pots of ale and the gossip of friends.

The next concert, in February, features Sinfonia Viva in Schubert, Haydn and Mozart.

BLACKADDER GOES FORTH

BLACKADDER GOES FORTH

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court

15.11.12

A final big push for CTW's Blackadder tribute, with its third season devoted to three of the best episodes from the WWI series.

The stage is dotted with military memorabilia; those Lovely War songs on a loop on the soundtrack.

Dean Hempstead's hand-picked cast is on superb form, led by David Chilvers as Cpn Blackadder, and Mark Preston as his downtrodden Pt Baldrick. They've made these roles very much their own – certainly not clones of the television stars.

Rock solid support from the whole company, notably Steve Parr's Melchett, Harry Sabbarton's Darling, and Ruth Cramphorn's "Bob".

And a hugely impressive comedy performance from Bruce Thomas as George, the incurable optimist who has to defend his superior at his Court Martial as well as act the leading lady in the concert party. In the last episode, he realises, touchingly, that he is the last of the Trinity Tiddlers, and just before the dawn attack, sees the waste and the tragedy of war.

We see them all go over the top to their death – impressively staged – as a field of poppies reminds us that theirs was one sacrifice amongst so many.

The pace, attack and timing are exemplary. They need to be, since one insurmountable challenge in staging these sitcoms is that each cross-fade and jump-cut becomes a hiatus as the stage crew shift stuff and we get a glimpse into the Green Room behind the front lines …

LONDON PIANO TRIO

LONDON PIANO TRIO

at St John's Smith Square

20.11.12

Henry Cotter Nixon anyone ?

Me neither, until the new CD by the London Piano Trio landed on my desk, courtesy of Essex-based international violinist Robert Atchison.

Once dubbed "father of the English tone poem", Cotter Nixon turns out to be a late Romantic composer, with a respectable body of work to his name, now largely forgotten.

Not the first British composer Atchison has rescued from oblivion. On the evidence of this Piano Trio, which dates from 1879, his is an attractive voice, influenced by continental models like Schumann, Schubert and Mendelssohn, whose first piano trio of some forty years earlier is also on this disc.

Cotter Nixon's is a substantial work, and at St John's we heard only the opening Allegro.

Played with enthusiasm and affection by the trio [Robert Atchison violin, Olga Dudnik piano, David Jones cello], the jaunty alla marcia theme of the opening particularly compelling. Impressive passagework on the piano, with the two string parts melded perfectly. Towards the end, the tempo slows to a sombre, introspective Lento.

The Mendelssohn, as celebrated as the Cotter Nixon is neglected, was eloquently interpreted [though not helped by taking the interval after the opening Allegro]. This first movement is built around a cantabile theme – I liked the way that this theme melted back in a moment of reflection before returning in triumph to end the movement. A warm rapport between the players in the Andante, then a pleasingly effervescent Scherzo, though not without some sinew where it was needed, and an energetic, ebullient Allegro Vivace finale, with Dudnik's piano impressively fluent.

The other CD whose launch was celebrated in a very enjoyable winter evening in St John's features more late Romanticism, French this time, with a collection of songs by Massenet. Soprano Sally Silver is joined by Richard Bonynge, long a champion of Massenet, and by the flamboyant cello of Gabriella Swallow. Silver's rich tone is well suited to this repertoire, and proved a powerful instrument in this acoustic, especially in the middle register. In the live recital she was accompanied by Olga Dudnik for the first group, which included the lovely Ave Maria, an operatic aria in all but name, based on the much-loved Méditation. In the second group, with Bonynge at the piano, Silver relished the words of Ivre d'Amour [which gives the disc its title], and, with the cello, gave a superb rendition of the familiar Élégie.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

SEASON'S GREETINGS

LADS at the Tractor Shed, Latchingdon

17.11.12

A real church choir carolling in the foyer, but that's about as far as peace and goodwill go in Ayckbourn's classic Christmas comedy, revived by LADS in the Tractor Shed.

It's done, if not in the round, then at least on the floor, as the playwright intended, with a nice set including a landing, with bedrooms off, and the dining room and lounge right under the audiences noses. It obviously proved a bugger to light, though; the hall was often in total darkness, for instance – a scene played in the dark should not mean a scene with no lighting whatever.

The festive season often throws families together, causing tension, tempers and drunken tears. Here, we have Neville [Daniel Tunbridge] and his bright young wife Belinda [Jamie-Leigh Royan]. Into their suburban home come childless doctor Bernard [a nicely fussy performance from Robin Warnes] and his dypso wife Phyllis [Eileen Judd]. And ex-colleague Eddie [David Hudson], with Pattie, his heavily pregnant wife [a convincing sense of desperation from Carole Hart]. Here's Bel's spinster sister, with her duffle coat and lisle stockings [Vicky Melhuish] who's picked up an author at her book group – Alan Elkins making an intense, bemused Clive.

And, discovered in front of the TV watching a seasonal action movie, is Uncle Harvey, excellently characterised by Keith Spencer.

There were some very amusing scenes, like the drumming bear in the farcical close to Act One, or the awkward encounter between Belinda and Clive. And, of course, the priceless puppet show, with Bernard increasingly frustrated by his incompetent stage-crew, and a cynical Harvey the chief critic at the dress rehearsal.

But I was left with the feeling that there was more to the play than we were getting – not all of the actors explored the depth of their character – like all of Ayckbourn's work, the farce and the fun are only the surface …

Season's Greetings was directed, as it was in the Village Hall back in '85, by Gavin Rouse. It was good to be down with the action – we could almost have handed Bernard his Third Pig – feeling as cosy as one can in a vast agricultural outbuilding.