Page 7 - Patrick Scott Scrapbooks

PICCADILLY
THEATRE au. 4IGI
PICCADILLY CIRCUS, W.1.
FROM WEDIESDAY, 12th OCTOBER FOR 3 WEEKS OILY
EYEIUllS at 8
SATS. at 5.30 u d 8.30 MATllEES: THURS. at 2.30
HENRY SHEREK
IN 418!QOIATION WITH BREIDAN SMITH PllUEllJS
Charges to pay s.
RECEIVED
At_ From
SIOBHAN llcKENNA
...
THE DUBLIN FESTIVAL COMPANY
•
THE PLAYBOY OF THE
WESTERN WORLD BY J. M. SYNGE
EITHNE DUNNE BRIAN O'HIGGINS
....
DONAL DONNELLY
u THE PLAYBOY
DIRECTION BY SHELAH RICHARDS DESIGN BY PATRICK scon
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SHEi.LAANDCARMEL++
6'.)2
THE ARTS & ENTE/3.TAINMENT
Prefix. Time handed in.
Office of prigin and Service Instruction,,
NEW STATESMAN · 22 OCTOBER
Theatre in Decline?
JEREMY BROOKS
'It now seems likely,' says the Arts Council's exactly the right atmosphere for this com-
Annual Report, 1959 - 60, ' that even this munity of idlers and boasters who can respect Operation Holdfast may not arrest the decline a man who has killed his father - as long as
of the living theatre.' Decline? It seems a he did it in another county. PegeeI:J Mike, strange word to use. No doubt the Arts though subscribing to the same silly ethos,
Council bas its reasons, but after spending must tower above it by the sheer force oC every night last week at the theatre, in a mood personality. There cannot be many
of mounting excitement at the diversity of in the world who can make her tower as talent and enthusiasm on every band, I read Sil)bhan McKenna does. Donal Donnelly, in
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P 208 4/4PM DUBLIN T 16
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a performance of great subtlety, triu111r>hantly The week's most intriguing offering was the rises to Miss McKenna's challenge: in tfie
the phrase with blank disbelief.
Royal Court Theatre's production of final scene he suddenly grows in stature until
Platonov, adapted BY Um1rn Mi!Mrnll .!J9m he o'ertops Pegeen herself with his new-found
Chekhov's first (and by him untitled) play. manhood. It was a deeply satisfying moment. The map.uscript was awuug My only quarrel with Shelah Richards's
hov's family papers in 1920. Previous English direction, which milks the play for every translations have omlm:u the c1vvvd<>d,, rrmccivabk lauglJ, that at certam pomts
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For free repetition of doubtful words telephonf "TELEGRAMS ENQUIRY " or call, with this form at office of delivery. Other enquiries should be accompanied by this form, and, if possible, the envelope.
typically Chekhovian first act. This new version includes it, but the unwieldy original has been tailored to a manageable length, and what we have now is virtually a new Chekhov play. To anyone as dotty about Chekhov as I am, this is like striking gold in one's True, there is little of the ·quiet, poetic nos- talgia of the famous plays, but 'in the person of Platonov himself, the shabby, irresponsible schoolmaster who is torn to pieces by his own fatal attractiveness to women, we have a prototype of many of Chekhov's most satisfy- ingly rounded characters.
The play is more overtly comic than we are accustomed to in Chekhov; and, delightful as this comedy is, it seems to me that the directors, George Devine and John Blatchley, in so assiduously pointing it up, have done Chekhov a disservice. The play ends in tragedy. But so firmly has our mood of hilarity been established by the farcical treat- ment of Platonov's dilemma that even bis death cannot be taken seriously. His friend Nikolai, in a final speech which should be both moving and pertinent, has to contend with an audience still bubbling with laughter.
In every other respect this is a brilliant production. Richard Negri's imaginative sets were . deservedly applauded, and Richard Pilbrow's cunning lighting of the melo- dra'rnatic railway-suicide-attempt bad the audience on the edge of their seats. Rex Harrison is perfect]y cast as Platonov: even a man can believe in that fatal, brooding attractiveness - part callousness, part babyish vulnerability - which in the end so suddenly and surprisingly destroys him. Mr Harrison's ability to suggest, by movement and expres- sion, the presence of an unused, almost atrophied intelligence in this futile philanderer is quite remarkable. Do, while you can, go to see this play.
The Dublin Festival Company's production of The Playboy of the Western World has been brought to the Piccadilly Theatre for a three-week season. I don't like the Irish 'thing' - that mixture of irresponsible amorality and heated self-righteousness which turns heads as qμickly as it broadens accents - but, for all its wordy inconsequence, Synge's play has a solidity of form noticeably absent from much of the early Abbey Theatre stuff. If one can abandon one's critical intelligence and just listen - never mind what the words mean, you may find the dialect baffling anyway - this production provides an evening of pure gold. Patrick Scott's thatched shebeen, standing
the action contradicted the spoken words.
.Jour-square against the Atlantic, creates
ALL
BEST
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PAT SCOTT fP,1.CCAD1.44Y 1'HEATRE LONDONw1'=
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i PICSADDILLY TrEATRE
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]S 1687 GTG 4.27 WHlTEHALL TS 13
P A T R J C K
S C O T T
P I C C A D I L L Y
T H E A T R E
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