Decky
Does A Bronco
-
originally reviewed Fringe 2000
2001 Review
It went on an extensive tour starting 30 May 2001
In 2000 Decky was performed only outdoors. For this 2001 tour some performances
were indoors, most were in the open air in parks.
In 2002 it had subsequent tours
Playwright - Douglas Maxwell
Composer - Philip Pinsky
Director - Ben Harrison
Company - Grid Iron with some new actors
Reviewer - Thelma Good who also reviewed it in August 2000
It works indoors as well as out! A different atmosphere
is generated in an enclosed space of a theatre which can't happen out
of doors making the experience intense and very powerful. Where ever
you see it, rest assured, Decky Does a Bronco with Philip Pinsky's
soundtrack is superbly theatrical.
Douglas Maxwell's tight, moving script, examining the lives of young
9 year old boys and the men they turn into, is even stronger seen a
second time. Set around swings the performances are highly physical
as the actors go up and down in the air - even indoors you see the blue
sky and smell the grass of the park.
David, Keith MacPherson is the thinker of the five boys who gather
at the swings, Barry, Ross Sutherland is his Glasgow cousin who
races from their Granny's every day timing it so he can spend as much
time as possible with the other boys. When young Chrissy, turns up the
young women in the audience sit up and take notice of the attractive
physical litheness and charm well supplied by new comer to the role,
Martin Docherty. But it is David Ireland as the mild,
innocent Decky who provides the essential heart of the play.
Ben Harrison's skilled direction of this exciting play exhilarates in
its writer's achievement with excellent parts coupled with such good,
well cast actors. Well worth seeing for the first time or again for
the production and the play itself.
© Thelma Good 30 May 2001
New cast Decky - David Ireland (formerly known as David
Craig and the original actor in the role), David - Kevin MacPherson,
Young O'Neil - Jimmy Harrison (formerly known as Paul Harrison
and the original actor in the role), Young Chrissy - Martin Docherty,
Young Barry - Ross Sutherland, Adult Barry - Harry Ward,
Adult O'Neill - Muz Murray, and Adult Chrissy - Craig Smith.
Review
when seen in August 2000 at Edinburgh Fringe
Original cast Decky - David Craig, David - Kevin MacPherson,
Young O'Neil - Paul Harrison, Young Chrissy - Andy Clark,
Young Barry - Ross Sutherland, Adult Barry - Paul Cunningham,
Adult O'Neill - Muz Murray, and Adult Chrissy - Craig Smith.
This play, by Douglas Maxwell, set in a lovely park, centres on the
swings where 5 young boys play around, and challenge each other and
themselves to behave like hard men. There is a cast of 8 excellent male
actors, some of whom played the adult version of their younger selves.
They are all trained acrobats, and use their muscles and the swings
to their full potentials. In the open air we sat in a circle, yes folks,
you get a stool to sit on! No walking around for the audience this time.
We were taken back to a world of boyhood where the playground taunts
and swift exchanges began to shape the boys into men. Decky, supposedly
the thick one, comes out with some wise observations which show he may
be dim but he has native wit. The script has humour and interesting
insights, watch out for the one about irony in schools. Most open air
productions take us into flights of fantasy, this one is wonderfully
rooted in reality.
I enjoyed being let into what had been, up till now, a world I only
saw the occasional glimpse of. The world of the young gang of boys who
"just hang out with one another". The play shows us what happens when
boys try to become men without realising that grown men can feel too.
I forgot that we were watching adult actors and saw the confusion and
isolation of boyhood which can make emotionally hardened men. As Decky
said, "It's not nice to laugh at those who arenae as good as you."
Ben Harrison skilfully directs this play which shows that being a boy
is a difficult thing in our culture where the generations keep separate
from one another, and small boys are thrust out to grow up on their
own. The production was, as we have come to expect from Grid Iron, very
well put together. If you like theatre in the open air and wonder how
small boys sometimes grow into boy-men, this play will give you lots
to think about especially when you next see a gang of small boys at
the swings.
© Thelma Good August 2000
Reviews of another Douglas Maxwell play
Our Bad Magnet
Review of another GridIron production
Fermentation
- Spring 2002