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A Madman Sings to the
Moon..
This play was first performed as part of the 1999 Fringe by the Brunton
Theatre and won a Herald Angel and the Stage Award for Best Actor for
Tony Cownie.
Playwright - Mark Thomson
Director - Mark Thomson
Designer - Edward Lipscomb
Lighting Designer - Jeanine Davies
Company - Royal Lyceum Theatre Company. Website.
Cast - here .
Venue - Royal Lyceum Theatre .www.lyceum.org.uk
for on line booking
0131 248 4848
Grindlay St off Lothian Rd to left of Usher Hall.
Dates - Free
Preview on 17 Sept at 7:45pm
18 September - 9 October 2004 Not Sun or Mons Mats on 25, 29 Sept
and 2, 6 & 9 October.
Reviewer - Lorraine McCann.
Brilliant meld of light and shade.
As the strains of Talking Heads' classic 'Psycho-Killer' fades against
sheets of back-lit rain, we are presented with the chic tranquility of
Café Bliss, where the waiting staff are beautiful, the clientele
are rich and powerful, and the last thing anybody wants is to be invaded
by a shambling, malodorous misfit.
So enter Kenny, Tony Cownie, a guy with a gun in his pocket and
nothing left to lose, and the stage is set for a hostage drama in which
ciphers of power, wealth and beauty are shattered via an encounter with
truth. In dialogue laden with wit and pathos, Mark Thomson's script illumines
inversions of status and gossamer-like threads of connection that throw
into relief the dark hinterland we all carry within us, our stymied dreams
and the stratagems we invent to cope with them.
As Kenny's sad story of isolation and loss unfolds, it frees his hostages
from their own images of themselves as successful people, and makes truth
seep out like water through a clenched fist. Indeed, in one of the most
electrifying sequences in the play, the hostages display 'Stockholm syndrome',
in which they side with their captor and almost collude with him against
their own release. Truly mesmerising.
The real brilliance of the play, however, lies in its meld of light and
shade. Although, for me, some of Kenny's one-liners were not quite as
side-splittingly hilarious as the Lyceum crowd seemed to think, there
is no doubt that this play contains one of the funniest visual gags I've
seen in years. And with that, and wonderful ensemble acting, it cannot
fail to please.
© Lorraine McCann, 17 September 2004.
Cast -
Kenny Wright -
Tony Cownie, Tania - Jenny Ryan, Frank - Phil McKee, Polly - Estrid Barton
and
Crawford - Andrew Dallmeyer.
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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