Dundee Rep
4 stars Paul Godfrey’s stage adaptation of Compton Mackenzie’s famously filmed novel is as clever as Michael Frayn’s backstage farce, Noises Off. Framed as a 1950s BBC radio play, such a conceit not only allows for subtle hints of backstage shenanigans among its cast of three who appear alongside a tireless sound effects man. Sharing the original story’s multiple roles among the trio also makes for canny economic sense. Godfrey’s version was last seen at the old Mull Little Theatre. Irene MacDougall’s new production, which tours community centres in the area this week, does much to capture the show’s essence, both in its stylistic dexterity and its deceptively subversive intent. For those who don’t know it, Mackenzie’s World War Two-set yarn is set on two neighbouring islands whose whisky rationing is overcome via a fortuitous shipwreck’s offloaded cargo. As played here, an entire community is personified with a swiftly changed facial expression or accent. John Buick is leading man and narrator Sir Hoppy Caruthers, while Martin McBride’s dashing Dick Burns plays Hoppy’s assorted foils. As regal diva Fanny Heywood-Haddock, Emily Winter plays all the women of the island, from battle-axes to belles, as well as several over-excited canines for good measure. There is the merest hint too of possible extra-curricular activities between the two fictional thespians that goes beyond professionalism. Unlike Frayn’s play, where one might expect things to fall apart, here they don’t. Top marks must go to Kevin Lennon, who, as studio manager Ivor Ash, conjures up an entire audio world the old-fashioned way in a show that lays bare the full liberating power of what’s found in the bottom of a glass. The Herald, October 30th 2012 ends
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