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Six Black Candles.
- World Premiere.
Playwright - Des Dillon.
Director - Mark Thomson.
Designer - Becky Minto.
Lighting Designer - Fleur Woolford.
Assistant Director for the production - Michael Emans (Emans is
Artistic Director of Scotland's Rapture Theatre).
Voice work - Carol Ann Crawford.
Company - Royal Lyceum Theatre Company. Their website.
Cast - here .
Venue - Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh 0131 248 4848..
Dates - Free
Preview 12 March at 7:45pm.
13 March - 3 April 2004. Tues - Sat at 7:45pm. Mats at 2:30pm on
20, 24, 27, 31 March & 3 April. Associated
Events.
Run Time - 2 hours mins including 15 mins interval.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Summons up comic magic.
Sisters, sisters! What a great collection of sisters Des Dillon has written
and this Royal Lyceum Premiere has brought to life. Each one an original,
and each actress uses her talents to flesh out her particular sister and
weaves her own spell binding performance. Dillon's script summons up comic
magic as the family relate, the sisters gang up and spat with each other
and anyone in range.
The reason the six sisters and their Maw and Granny gather in Caroline's
in danger of being repossessed ex-council tower block flat is Stacie Gracie
and her conquest of Caroline's hubby Bobby. Head of the female clan is
Granny, Irish in her roots Catholic and pagan in her core, has Eileen
McCallum reminding that wily natures, beauty and speed of reaction
mature wonderfully with age. Anne Downie's Maw is an able second
in command trying to marshall the vibrant sisters.
Kathryn Howden's well drawn anguished Caroline is the eldest, torn
between mourning her lost love and cutting him out of her life. There's
the posh, further educated one Wendy, given a sassy, bum wiggling performance
by Jennifer Black, Julie Duncanson is the flaunting, always hoping
for it Geddy, really-scary-eyed, witch-black Donna has Gabriel Quigley
darkly comic, in a wheelchair for the part of the enigmatic Linda is Gayanne
Potter and Wendy Seager's Angie is the whip hard single mother.
Donna and Angie, the ones you'd least want to meet on a dark night, seem
the keenest to exact the six candles revenge, but not quite sure she wants
Caroline is just one of a number who waver.
The gathering gets interrupted by the new priest who finds himself
manipulated by the women, in a lovely performance from Mark McDonnell.
He gives Father Boyle the bewildered innocence of one who has yet
to recognise his Maker's enemy or these parishioners' long-standing parallel
superstitious involvement in spells and witchcraft as well as Catholic
practices. The other male part Bobby is the only one that lacks the full
throttle of all the rest, Gavin Kean just looks out of place.
The set has sharply angled walls, the upper portions suggesting the high
rises. To those seated towards the sides of the auditorium, it gives good
views of only two of the three key places - door, freezer, fire place
- so check carefully when you book. Des Dillon's play gets a production
full of sight gags and tight actions coupled with gloriously accomplished
playing from the cast. Mark Thomson assisted by Mark Emans gives the eloquent,
exuberant direction this comic play, with serious as well as fun targets,
demands. The only concern is that it lingered so long waiting to be produced.
© Thelma Good 13 March 2004. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Des Dillon wrote Six Black Candles as a play in 1998 for Birds
Of Paradise Theatre Company. When they didn't get funding to do it, there
was interest from other companies and the script won in 2000 the TAPS
Writer of The Year Award and in 2001 the 16th International Playwriting
Award. But still no production happened. Where is the SAC when you need
then? Saying No? So frustrated Dillon rewrote and changed the story into
a novel which is published by Headline.
He's a successful writer whose other novels include Duck, Itchycooblue,
Busby Babes, The Big Q, and most recently The Blue Hen Novella, he also
has written radio plays and poetry. His other stage play produced in 2003
was Lockerbie 103.
Cast: Caroline - Kathryn Howden, Donna - Gabriel
Quigley, Geddy - Julie Duncanson, Wendy - Jennifer Black, Angie - Wendy
Seager, Linda - Gayanne Potter, Granny - Eileen McCallum, Maw - Anne Downie,
Bobby - Gavin Kean and Father Boyle - Mark McDonnell.
Six Black Candles - Royal Lyceum Theatre Company.
Gabriel Quigley - Donna, Gayanne Potter - Linda, Jennifer Black
- Wendy, Anne Downie - Maw, Eileen McCallum - Granny, Wendy Seager
- Angie, Julie Duncanson - Geddy and Kathryn Howden - Caroline.
© Marc Marnie 2004
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Associated events - 16 March at 6pm. Preshow
reading and book launch with Des Dillon playwright and novelist. Free
but ticketed event.
27 March at 11:30am - 1:30pm A Creative Writing Workshop with Des Dillion.
£4 - places limited to 20 Ticket must be booked in advance.
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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