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Youth Theatre Reviews |
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The Threepenny OperaBy Bertholt Brecht I have to say this one got off to a very shaky start; we began with the cast of nearly thirty milling about on a stage too small for them, presumably trying to create a street scene from an amoral society but merely succeeding in stumbling over each other. There was presumably something happening on the floor in front of the stage, but the seats aren't raked, so even sitting two rows back we couldn't see. That pretty much set the tone for the first half, the whole of which was faltering and uncomfortable. To be fair, the Picket is a horrible, horrible venue for theatre; it's cold, the acoustics are awful, and it has the ambience of a converted garage which it might well be as there is a distinct smell of petrol. Those who know Liverpool will know that this is the latest home of a much respected live music venue and as a live music venue I'm sure it's superb. As a theatre venue it is cold and uninvolving. Partly as a result of this the production itself struggles. Voices are lost in the acoustic and, despite amplifiction, drowned out by the instruments. Eventually the play would transform; this must have been one of the most radical gear shifts during an interval I have ever seen. I walked into the interval hating this play and tempted to leave. It would have been a dreadful mistake if I had. But to deal with the first half, and I'm about to say what I say with the proviso that directors Dan Meigh and Iona Farley have managed to assemble an engaging and committed cast with great talent. But, on the evidence of that first half, they are by no means perfect. Eventually Jake Dodd, as Jonathon Peachum, would have a scene where he was relaxed and comfortable with his lines and he was spellbinding, showing an extraordinary presence for so young an actor. In the first half however he gave every impression of being only dimly familiar with his lines and delivered the part as if he were reading it from an autocue. If that is the case then please learn your lines Mr Dodd, you are too good an actor to let yourself down like that. Similarly James Marshall, as corrupt police chief 'Tiger' Brown got off to a tentative start, and Dan Jonson's Macheath seemed unrelaxed and as a result undangerous. One wonders if he was told not to use his hands, as he keeps them firmly clamped to his sides at all times throughout his first few scenes. Later on he relaxed, and he and his hands looked fine. The production looked like it had been directed for a larger stage and moved to the confines of the Picket at short notice; the stage pictures looked cramped and people tripped over each other. Focus was lost in crowd scenes; the wedding of Macheath and Polly being particularly messy. I suspect this was because of the venue acoustics amplifying extraneous noise, and the smaller space pushing side action into the focus. There were some odd choices though; ad-libbing over people who have lines is not generally helpful, and the young lad who, despite showing great energy elsewhere in the play, chose to caterpillar off very slowly while a scene was trying to happen behind him should be taken gently to one side and told what 'stealing focus' means. It's the songs that saved the first half: under musical director Eric Blakemore's very capable guidance they were delivered with a force and committment absent from the acting. But after the interval everything changed. Then the play burst into life and we saw what this very good young cast is capable of. Working from a truly chilling and very finely delivered 'Mac the Knife' people relaxed into their parts, lines and scenes flowed and The Threepenny Opera became a very good play indeed. There were still problems with audibility, not all of them the venue's fault, but by the end, after a showstopping performance by Johnson, the applause was warm, genuine and deserved. "The Threepenny Opera" is playing at the Picket, Liverpool until the 12th April
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