Green Carnation Company is a new theatre company that, in
their own words, is dedicated to
producing high quality productions that tackle contemporary issues affecting
the queer community. This evening they premiered their first ever production,
The Pride, at the award winning Hope
Mill Theatre in Manchester.
While there is always a warm welcome at Hope Mill Theatre,
it was really nice to see the members of the theatre company itself welcoming the
audience and the excitement about this first opening night was palpable.
The premise of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s 2008 award winning play
has the potential to be quite complex – it begins in 1958 and explores issues
related to social and internalised homophobia of that time but then fast
forwards to compare the same issues in 2008. This is exposed through three
central characters – Oliver (played by Simon Hallman), Philip (Gareth George)
and Sylvia (Joanna Leese). In reality, there is no complexity at all in the
clever weaving of scenes and going backwards and forwards in time creates a
very interesting – and accessible – juxtaposition of the issues explored.
This
requires some skill as a writer but also as a director and Dan Jarvis and Dan
Ellis, Director and Co-Director respectively, certainly were able to present a
clear and well paced narrative.
The dialogue was quite eloquently written – the characters are
clearly well educated and well to do, and speak in a middle class manner and I
expect that this would be a great play to read and read again. There were quite
a few fantastic lines which, while clearly with literary value, were
easily delivered and sounded quite natural. This, again, comes about from the
gifted writing by Kaye Campbell, but also the characters themselves, made flesh
on stage, translated these words into natural, understandable dialogue in such
a way that they made the craft of acting look easy. Facial expressions,
posture, gait – all of these non-verbal characterisations created by the cast
made every word plausible and hit home. A mention here must be made of Alex
Thompson who was cast as several different minor, but challenging, characters.
He almost stole the show through his exposition of strong, three dimensional
characters that were so different from each other. His transformations –
through no trickery of make up or gimmick - were quite something to watch.
I wondered at times, though, if some of the nuances of the
dialogue between the two central men were passed over, particularly in the
first scene. Some of the lines between Philip and George lost an underlying meaning.
The complexity of these two closeted gay men meeting for the first time was not
fully explored, the only emotion between them was a rumble of passive hostility
from the part of Philip and a passivity from George, whereas the dialogue could
have been interpreted with stronger hints of the struggle – internal and
external - of attraction and rejection. There is a clear moment towards the end
of this scene when Sylvia feels something has happened, like a premonition of
the connection between the two men, but really this moment is not witnessed by
the audience and I believe the dialogue could have allowed a variety of subtle
emotions to lead us to this moment. Of course it is the director’s prerogative
to lead a play as they see best and it is easy for anyone to be a back seat
director – this interpretation of The Pride was indeed excellent and of a very
high calibre and did not in any way lack in portraying real, believable
characters with their story to tell. It is a fairly long show that explores
quite a variety of complex issues around sexuality but there was a great pace
and flow and it all made perfect sense. This is difficult to achieve and it
serves to underline here the great potential that Green Carnation Company has.
I want to see these actors on stage again, I want to see what this company does
next because it really took us all on the journey that was played out on stage.
Music was subtly used at times to add emotion to some
moments but there was no consideration of a stylistic theme for the music – it
was disparate and unoriginal but it did underline different emotions
effectively. Likewise, sound effects – mostly ambience sounds – were random but
effective. In one scene we hear rain softly falling from outside, but in
another scene rain is mentioned but is not heard. These are small details, but
it is in the detail that high quality productions are recognised.
The set was quite simple but really effective, particularly
in representing the past and the present in a neat way. Some of the transitions
seemed a little clumsy and at times there appeared to be hesitancy,
particularly around the use of curtains on set. I think that there was some
symbolism to be had with the drapes and curtains, which were used as backdrops,
but this symbolism was lost – sometimes the curtains were tied back, sometimes
they weren’t, sometimes they showed odd gaps. If there was an intended
symbolism, it was lost. If there wasn’t, then the curtains were simply a bit
messy and distracting. These kinds of thing can be put down to opening night
glitches and can be easily overlooked – it is the quality of acting and the interpretation
of the script that are most important and for Green Carnation Company these
were really excellent.
Green Carnation Company, named after a Victorian secret
symbol of homosexuality, has an aspiration to deliver productions of a high
quality and indeed the acting and delivery was flawless. Perhaps a few more
shows, and maybe more funding, will allow them to elevate the music and scenery
to the same high level as the acting.
Reviewer – Aaron Loughrey
om - 16/10/18
A very fair comment and I wish I can read your article before I went to the show :)
ReplyDelete... There were two pairs of curtains. One is blue and the other one is grey....I guest the grey one is to imply is rainy day
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