Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Four stars
The musicality of the piece is accentuated even further here by a new chamber pop score by Michael John McCarthy, and performed live by a guitar, bass and percussion trio who provide a sublime set of arrangements for the songs of the ever fertile Polly Garter. These are sung with clarity and grace by Jacqueline Thain as Polly in a version of the play that grabs lustily at its libido-driven heart that pulses an entire community in all its topsy-turvy glory.
The Herald, July 21st 2014
Four stars
As with all the best soap operas, it's
fitting that the pub should be at the centre of Gareth Nicholls'
staging of Dylan Thomas' seminal radio play concerning the bustle of
life in a day in the imaginary hamlet of Llareggub. Presented as part
of the Tron's Home Nations Festival of poetic drama that forms part
of the Commonwealth Games' arts programme, Nicholls takes full
advantage of the Tron Community Company's resources to put quaking
flesh on the rich bones of Thomas' big, rambunctious symphony of
inner yearning, shattered dreams and hidden hopes that the play
evolves into.
With the narrator's lines split three
ways between the bar staff of Charlotte Lane's wood-lined howf, the
rest of the townsfolk either prop up the bar or else sit in repose at
a floor of tables until they spring into life to lay bare their
hearts desires. At one point in what at times looks and sounds like
the physical evocation of a saucy seaside postcard, the entire
sixteen-strong ensemble get on their feet for the sort of dance
routine that only ever fully lets rip in an after-hours lock-in
situation.
The musicality of the piece is accentuated even further here by a new chamber pop score by Michael John McCarthy, and performed live by a guitar, bass and percussion trio who provide a sublime set of arrangements for the songs of the ever fertile Polly Garter. These are sung with clarity and grace by Jacqueline Thain as Polly in a version of the play that grabs lustily at its libido-driven heart that pulses an entire community in all its topsy-turvy glory.
The Herald, July 21st 2014
ends
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