The Land Of Cakes
Playwright - Don Paterson
Director - Sandy Neilson
Musical score: Gordon McPherson
Musical director: John Harris
Designer: Paul Ambrose Wright
Company - Dundee Rep Theatre Company
Venue - Dundee Rep www.dundeerep.co.uk
01382 223530
Excellent restaurant/cafe
Date - 7 - 24 March 2001 and part of 2001 Summer season see
listings for current Dundee listings
Reviewer - Rachel Natanson
It is worth buying the programme to this show at the start, and leafing
through it whilst you take your seat and the houselights dim. With a
cut out model of a shed designed for your desktop, and four recipes
for cakes, it will certainly open up your mind to receiving the bizarre
and hilarious characters Don Paterson's The Land Of Cakes introduces.
This is a rollercoaster of emotions: a fast paced piece that will have
theatre goers alternatively laughing out loud, then on the verge of
tears as traumas are revealed.
The action is aided by Gordon McPherson's musical score, but not over
powered by it, and Paul Ambrose Wright's multi layered set provides
the perfect platform to display the acting and music. Having been unsure
of Dundee Rep's resident company in some of their previous dramas, the
Land Of Cakes brings their talents to the fore, playing this bittersweet
comedy with enthusiasm yet sensitivity. The only fear would be that
some of the dialogue is lost in the audience's laughter, and the dialogue
is such that I wouldn't want to miss a moment of it.
All of the performers are strong in this play, working together rather
than upstaging each other and playing for laughs. The comedy flows naturally,
and John Ramage, playing Davie, and Rodney Matthew, playing
Archie, deserve a special mention for their handling of both the comedy
aspects and the more serious turns that the play takes. That said, the
play never takes itself overly seriously, the bye-line of the title
itself reading "a Dundee melodrama".
The Land Of Cakes is a fine piece of theatre and one that the actors
seem to enjoy as do the audience. It is easy to lose yourself in these
characters' world, and I strongly recommend that you do for an evening.
© Rachel Natanson 7 March 2001
Abody's Aberdee
by Don Patterson
