Theatre
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Maxwe SI ver drama
Grid Iron and Douglas Maxwell have combined with distinction before, but VARIETY is a new departure.
Words: Steve Cramer
ou‘d think that l)ouglax .\la\wcll. a man
ol iiil‘cctiotix good humour. whoxc natural
.xttii'}'tc‘lliiig propcnxiticx conic out in hix convcrxation ax much ax hix work. might ha\ c an atlinity with music hall. But hix ncw pla}. which ix about to makc it.x dcbut at thc lntcrnational l-‘cxtixal. , isn't quitc what it .xccmx. Sct in a muxic hall ol' thc iii-infif“ l‘)2().x. which ix in thc proccxx ol‘ bcing turncd into a cincma. thc play i.x actually about biggcr thingx than i it.x titlc purportx.
‘l’coplc kccp axlx'ing il‘ it‘x about thc cnd ol' an cra.
but it ixn‘t rcallyf hc .xa_\1x. "l’hc muxic hall continucd until thc 50.x and (illx and it wax rca||_\ rock‘n‘roll and tclcvix‘ion that killcd it off. So it‘x not a xcntinicntal tributc or an attcmpt to rc\'i\c it. 'l‘hc muxic hall ix .xomcthing thc charactcrx haVc to put up with. bccauxc it‘x thcir job. 'l‘hc point about it. ax a tttctapltot‘. ix that .xonicthing which .xccmx complctcl} pcrmancnt xliowx itxcll’ to bc \'cr_\' impcrmancnt. and thc thingx that thc pcoplc around thc placc haVc talx'cn \cr} \ct‘lotlxl) ix now xhown to bc and it‘x how lilc \\(ll'l\\ in tliix pla}. lt‘x a collagc cl‘l‘cct. it‘x
juxt a gamc lor pcoplc'x cntcrtainmcntf mcant to ltttll\ a bit li'agmcntcd.‘
.\la_\wcll ix a l‘ormidablc combination with [irc\ioux l'or all that. .\la\wcll'x world ix pcoplctl b} dicamcrx and collaborator (irid Iron. Bcn llarrixon and Judith l)ochcrt_\‘x cxcalicrx l'i‘om harxli i'caliticx. who can‘t quitc a\oid thcir company produccd l)('('/\'_\‘ l)()('\ .-\ Brown in thc letlll l‘ringc. dcxtinicx. llcrc it‘x thc oldcr gcncration not
winning .xuch acclaim that thc xhow ix xtill in dcniand and _\oungcr who arc too liar on in lilc to malxc
‘I’ ' d touring cx'cn now. 'l‘hc compam‘x tradc mark anti-rcalixm. thcir big dccixionx. ve trle which had brought it a continual run ol' xucccxx limit ‘/'/it' .\la\wcll xccx tlic pla} ax a dcparturc in
[MW/l (71(“lll’l'l'l” Gillian/111m in prc\ ioux l’i‘iiigicx wax altcrcd inllucnccx ax w cll. ‘l’d \I‘L‘nt a lot ol‘timc tcllin?
by thcir initial cncountcr with \lachll. whoxc work hax a pcoplc l hatcd 'l‘cnncxxcc \Villiamx. whcn a
morc lincar narratch .xhapc. 'l'hix production marlxx a changc actuall_\. I hadn‘t rcad an}. bccauxc I thought lic
for both. l‘oi' thc uxual tight xpaccx and pli}xit‘;tl pro\imit_\ wax lll\L‘ liugcnc ()‘Xcill. laxt xummcr l I - ,
charactcrixtic ol'(irid lron‘x \thl'lx hax bccn c\changcd tor tlic dccidctl I‘d bcttcr xtop prctcnding and rcad It S a
widc opcn .xpaccx ol~ thc King’x 'l‘hcatrc'x proxccnium arch. xomc. and l lo\ctl it. So now thcrc‘x an clcmcnt So. too. .\la.\wcll i.x cxpcrimcnting. ‘.\loxt ot' in_\ work hax ol' mclodrama. but not in a bad \\;i_\.'
bccn l’airly straight in itx .xttii'}tclliiig until now. but thc wholc \lclodi'ama or not. thcrc‘ll bc plcnt) ol'
.xtructurc hci'c i.x dill‘crcnt. I'Vc tricd to makc thc xtoi'_\ ccho a humour. and gi\cn thc talcntx inxobcd. a good night out l'or all.
rcal piccc ol muxic hall. xo thcrc’x a lot ol pcoplc on thc xtagc .. u . . . .
for a big numbcr. which ixii‘t rcall} a big numbcr. tlicn a King’s Theatre, 473 2000, 12-17 Aug, times vary,
.xucccxxion ol‘ dialogucx. 'l'hix ix how thc muxic hall worlxcd. 25—223
David Groi9)8 is'and }:-" , '.'- 21 . l .2' Well-made play by David Greig O... - . . . 1 “a, ‘ '-\' l ‘ ’l\ l I a l l. ' . ' i 'i l t i : ' 1 ' 1 I I ‘ :1 |/, r L l' , 1 l : I r l ‘ > ‘ ‘ l. l l I i I I ' ’ l I ’\ l i i i i | D i l i . v ':.t. ' ' : .'.' , i i ’. v I I «
THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 59