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Theatre listings > Baby Doll. This play first performed at Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 22 October 1999 and then at the Royal National Theatre on 7 March 2000. Deviser - Lucy Bailey from the film Baby Doll (1956) by Tennessee Williams directed by Elia Kazan. Director - Jeremy Raison. Designer - Soutra Gilmour. Lighting Designer - Charles Balfour. Company - Citizens Theatre Company . Cast - here . Venue - Main Theatre at Citizens Theatre Glasgow 0141 429 0022. Dates - Pay What You Can preview 14 April. 15 April - 7 May Tues - Sat at 7.30pm Matinee Sat 30 April 3pm. Run Time - 2 hours 15 mins including one Interval. Reviewer - Thelma Good. Feel Voyeurs.
Into a bar strolls the rich, Sicilian Cotton Plantation owner, Silva Vacarro, his exotic eroticism and menace brought out by Gary Turner. When Silva's cotton gin gets burn out he pays Archie to use his and so he has to call on the Meighans. There his attractions have Baby Doll's hormones at last going into overdrive, his ruthless undercurrent overlaid with sensual charm. Turner's leather booted, whip wielding character sets off the right vibes, and Donaldson's Baby Doll air of "f***, that's what it's about" weighs in to make their scenes the most successful. As Archie Andy Gray gives the air of a broken man whose desire for his wife's body doesn't tip enough into the story's taint of sexual attraction to someone not really interested who looks underage. Soutra Gilmour's design with its planked floor and explosion of planks at the back, where actors plainly walk in and out to scenes suggests a stage. It makes the audience feel voyeurs in this society rife with racialism, sexism and precarious economics. Strikingly combined with Charles Balfour's lighting, particularly when Baby Doll takes refuge in the unsafe attic where light floods up and reveals her ripe body. Jeremy Raison's direction although finding the humour, falls short of really exploring the fear of Baby Doll and her attraction to others, so it feels like a good commercial touring production rather than dangerous theatre from the cutting rep edge. Also Lucy Bailey's sketches in the smaller roles rather than make them strong planks, and it results in several good actors having barely nothing to do. It's interesting seeing plays performed elsewhere given their Scottish Premieres but I do have reservations about the amount of plays in this season and the last which are based on novels or films. © Thelma Good 15 April 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Cast- Baby Doll - Suzanne Donaldson, Archie Lee Meighan - Andy Gray, Silva Vacarro - Gary Turner, Aunt Rose Comfort - Joanna Tope, Mac/Marshall - Frank Gallacher, Doctor John/Old Boy - Paul Birchard, Rock - Andrew Clark and Billy - Garry Collins. 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 >
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