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The Messenger Review
Blackouts break up Discworld
LORDS AND LADIES: Burnside Players
Goodwood Institute, cnr Goodwood Rd & Victoria St, Goodwood
To November 12 TERRY Pratchett's novels of the Discworld, a world carried on the backs of elephants and a giant turtle, have captured the imaginations of legions of fans. A world of wizards, witches, dwarves, trolls and elves is a wonderful escape, especially when it is all tied up in wonderful, eccentric, clever and very funny writing. But unless you have a ton of money and access to all kinds of theatrical magic in the way of lights, sound, sets and technical wizardry, it takes a very clever production to do the book justice as a stage play. On the eve of the wedding of the king to young novice witch, Magrat Garlick, Discworld is threatened by an old enemy, the elves. Long since banished to stay within the circle of standing stones, these evil creatures have become little more than legend to most, but ancient witch, Granny Weatherwax, remembers the powers of these "Lords and Ladies''. Now that people no longer fear the elves, they are playing around with magic and calling the beautiful but nasty beings back into the world. It is up to Granny and her faithful offsider Nanny Ogg to save Discworld from certain disaster. Director AJ Bartley has endeavoured to speed up what seems like a hundred tiny scenes in several locations, by using rotating set blocks designed by Ben Morton. These function well, but with blackouts between every little scene, the play is disjointed and slow. In most cases the dialogue could speed up too. Actors need to anticipate lines. This will no doubt start to improve as the season progresses. There are, however, some fine performances among the very large cast. Theresa Dolman is a formidable Granny Weatherwax. Her command of the dialogue is superb and she wears her character like a second skin. Fran Edwards is a likeable Nanny Ogg (despite a few first night stumbles) and a perfect cuddly foil for Dolman's stoically sensible Granny. Bonnie-Fay Madigan is delightful as the dotty Magrat Garlick. With a highly expressive face and well developed comic sense, her cartoon-like interpretation is very funny. I also enjoyed Brad Martin's performance as the Bursar. His obvious enjoyment of his nonsensical character is quite infectious. If you are a Discworld fan you can look past the shortcomings of this production and just enjoy a darned good escapist yarn with some very whimsical dialogue. SUE OLDKNOW |
