THEATRE REVIEW: An Evening with Harold Pinter
Peppersghost Theatre Company play Madcap
If a venue could ever be said to echo the ability of Harold Pinter to transform something seemingly normal into something extra special, it's the Madcap Theatre in Wolverton.
Shunning the pristinely decorated comforts of watching the latest soap reject performing at Milton Keynes Theatre, Madcap's dilapidated surrounds champion more austere shows.
And it makes a pleasent change to leave behind the city centre's commercially minded offerings and enjoy a night with the stars of Madcap.
This week saw the Peppersghost Theatre Company grace the boards with An Evening of Harold Pinter.
Played out over two halves the show started with four of the playwrights short comedies, Last to Go, Black and White, Night and Request Stop.
That first set was stolen by an inspired performance by Izzy Pryor as the lady at the bus stop in Request Stop.
Anyone who has ever felt uncomfortable in the face of an all too public row will have recognised this scene – and not failed to laugh.
The break was followed by the main event, a performance of Pinter's classic 1957 one-act play The Dumb Waiter.
The show features just two protagonists, Ben (played by Andrew Davis) and Gus (Joe Seville); hitmen staying in a dingy basement room to await their next job.
Exploring the uneasy interaction between the two, the near hour long performance combines comedy and menace.
The pair waste the time before their next hit by commentating on newspaper reports (they condemn the killing of a cat while ignoring the fact they deal in death themselves), annoying each other with their own little habits and coming to blows over the semantics of lighting the kettle.
But the focus of the scene is the dumb waiter which sends messages for extraordinary food orders down to the pair who can only respond with an unusual mixture of tea bags, milk, an Eccles cake and some biscuits.
Crammed into the Madcap the audience was tight to the stage and the performance swung from taught to comedic at breakneck speed.
Peppersghost's stars coped admirably with the script, with both actors putting in convincing performances.
Given the complexities of Pinter's characterisation and their amateur status, these were first class performances.
A few moments of confused laughter at moments supposed to portray menace suggested all the nuances hadn't quite been mastered, but this was Pinter not Britain's Got Talent.
In a city where flying cars, clairvoyants and tap dancing Irishmen usually hog the theatrical limelight it was nice to see a space for the good old fashioned play.
Madcap and Peppersghost should be praised to the theatre's antiquated rafters for that.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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