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The Chrysalids
- Tour.
Playwright - David Harrower adapted from John Wyndham's novel of
the same name.
Director - Lorenzo Mele.
Assistant Director - Heather Fulton.
Designer - Colin Begg.
Lighting Designer - Sergey Jakovsky.
Composer - Robert Burlin.
Company - Complete email
.
Cast - here .
2003 Tour Dates and Times - here.
Seen to review at Tron Theatre.
Run Time - 1 hours 20mins no Interval .
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Not ultimately a beneficial mutation.
This dramatisation of Wyndham's The Chrysalids isn't ultimately a beneficial
mutation of the book though it has some of its haunting, disquieting quality.
A quality heightened by Colin Begg's design of dark platforms with the
waiting cast at back behind a screen. David lives with his family in a
society Waknuk where being pure is central while in the forest around
their farms live the Fringers, the people who are tainted by mutation.
The Gaelic singing by the Waknuk conveys the otherness of their community
and Robert Burlin's music often adds tension. Just occasionally set and
music combine to suggest a whiff of an episode of the flaky SiFi cult
drama Dr Who, as the target audience is under 18's this will only trouble
much older members of the audience.
Wyndham wrote after a time where in some countries difference could be
a sentence of death, and in a world where nuclear threat was THE weapon
of mass destruction and mutation. Operating from a medical model of health
and disease, we're again wary of genetic difference even though we pass
laws of equality. With its several strong contemporary resonances Complete's
The Chrysalids reveals some of the cold horror of any society operating
under fear.
But this version (which differs noticeably from the one published in New
Connections by Faber) of Harrower's adaptation, hasn't fully brought out
the dramatic and theatrical possibilities of the young boy David and the
power he and a few other children hide from their community. At times
the message in the lines comes so strongly through compared to the memorable
book it becomes didactic and almost unengaging. Transforming tales into
different medias are tricky mutations to achieve. In trying to stick too
close to the original book the development of the characters, even with
good ensemble acting, emerges not clearly enough formed to let the audience
fully and believable inside the world of Waknuk.
© Thelma Good 11 September 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast: Alastair G Bruce - Mark, John, Inspector,
Katrina Bryan - Anne, Fringe 2, Paul Cunningham - Joseph, Helen Devon
- Emily, Fringe 1, Katy Engels - Sarah, Fringe 3, Owen Gorman - Axel,
Inspector 1, Fringe 5, Kevin MacIsaac - Alan, Fringe Prisoner, Fringe
6, Helen McAlpine - Petra, Sally Reid - Rosa, Mary W, Laura Smales - Sophie,
Mrs Ervin, Fringe 4 and Alan Tripney - David.
2003 Tour Details of Complete's production
of The Chrysalids.
Tour begins
10 - 13 Sept
at 8pm & Mat 11 at 2pm. Glasgow Tron 0141 552 4267.
16 Sept at 7:30pm Paisley Arts Centre 0141 887 1010.
14 Sept at 7:3opm Falkirk Town Hall 01324 506 850.
18 Sept at 7:45pm Cumbernauld Theatre 01236 732 887.
23 Sept at 6pm Stirling macrobert 01786 466 666.
24 Sept at 8pm Livingston Howden Park Centre 01506 433 634.
25 - 26 Sept at 1:30pm & 7pm North Edinburgh Arts Centre
0131 315 2151.
30 Sept at 1:30pm & 8pm St Andrews Byre Theatre 01334
475 000.
1 Oct at 10:30am & 8pm St Andrews Byre Theatre 01334
475 000.
Tour Ends.
Tour ends
Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is
thelma@edinburghguide.com
Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted
for any errors or omissions.
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