|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Theatre listings > Compact Failure. - Tour & World Premiere. Playwright - Jennifer Farmer. Director - Sarah Esdaile. Designer - Ti Green. Lighting - Natasha Chivers. Sound Designer - Ilona Sekacz. Company - Clean Break. Cast - here . Venue - Traverse Theatre Edinburgh Dates - 2 - 4 Dec at 7:30pm. 2003 Tour Dates and Times - here . Seen to review at Traverse Theatre Edinburgh on 2 December 2004.. Run Time - 90 mins approx no interval.. Reviewer - Alex Eades. Touching, funny and heartbreaking. Touching, funny and heartbreaking, Compact Failure uncompromisingly captures the harsh reality of prison life, but at its heart remains a wonderful celebration of the human spirit. The three female cast are nothing short of brilliant, each playing multiple characters, occasionally outshining an already beautifully written play. A special mention has to go to Claire-Louise Cordwell, whose performance is very memorable. Her balance of hard nut inmate and scared young woman is perfectly captured and never fails to pull on the heart strings, even on minor scenes within the play. Cordwell’s accents are also flawless, one minute playing a character from east London, the next from the east of Europe. A superb actress that I am sure we will be hearing a lot from in the future. A lot of credit, however, has to go to Jennifer Farmer’s script. Each line of dialogue packs a powerful punch, without being overly dramatic or abandoning the reality of the world in question. Ultimately, Farmer seems to understand the people that she has fictionalised. They are not bad or evil, but people who have made mistakes and are now simply out there to survive. This is a play about life in prison for women, however it speaks to both sexes as we are not all as different as we like to think we are and could easily be performed by a male cast without losing any of the power provided with this performance. Prison is not full of evil no gooders and this play reminds us of that fact, seeing ourselves in each and every one of these characters. Watch it. Think about it. Talk about it. Never forget it. © Alex Eades 3 December, 2004. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Cast - Claire-Louise Cordwell, Lorna Gayle and Sharlene Whyte. 2004 Tour Details of Clean Break's production of Compact Failure . Tour begins 6 – 9 Oct at Manchester Contact Theatre. 13 - 15 Oct at Chester Gateway. 26 – 28 Oct at York Theatre Royal. 9 – 27 Nov at London Arcola Theatre. 2 – 4 Dec at Edinburgh Traverse. 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. Theatre listings >
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||