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Theatre listings >
This play was first performed on 1 October 1999 by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and was directed by Patrick Mason. Playwright - Frank McGuinness.. Director - Ben Twist. Designer - Monica Nisbet. Lighting Designer - Jeanine Davies. Fight Designer - Raymond Short. Voice Coach - Alex Gillon. Cast - Here. Company - Pitlochry Festival Theatre Company Website. Venue - Pitlochry Festival Theatre BO 01796 484 626. Dates - here . Run Time - 2 hrs 10 mins with one interval. Reviewer - Thelma Good. Simmers and delivers an heartfelt stew of emotions. . The last play to go up on the 2005 Pitlochry Season, Dolly West's Kitchen simmers into an emotional stew of subtle seasonings and layers in a production that moves and statisfies. Monica Nisbet's set is a dreamlike mix of several places, the seashore, Rima's productive garden and place centrally is a huge solid kitchen table where everything comes to-gether, all the ingredients including family, friends and foes. At the back is a gauze behind which, beautifully lit by Jeanine Davies, white drapes suggest in their contours the crashing Atlantic rollers and the mists of history. It's like a sculpture inspired by Magritte, with a suggestion of the best children's picture books.
Esther, is the other sister, the married one, her husband Ned decent enough but not equiped with the fire to set anything alight, both well underplayed by Jacqueline Dutoit and Gregory Gudgeon. Justin, the youngest is a thrawn creature, trying to rule the roost and failing, a young officier in the Irish Army who hates the British Dominic Brewer moves us as his pained Justin softens through the play. Into their world come four extra ingredients. Dolly may cook, she ran a resteruant in pre-war Milan but Anna's the West's maid - a young eager convent-raised orphan girl surging with the energy of youth and sparklingly played by Aoibheann O'Hara. Benedick to Dolly's Beatrice is Jonathan Coote's nicely toned Alec. A protestant, English university friend of her's who's visted the family before, but now his presence is a red rag to Justin's self-hobbled bull. He's draw to the kitchen by his own desires but GIs Maro and Jamie are picked up by Rima on a visit to town. Hywel Morgan's Jamie is the silent, handsome type but his cousin Marco, played by actor to watch Stewart Cairns, is the one who charms everyone including importantly the audience. Marco's not only over here, he's so out and honest he's irrestible. The powerful ensemble under Ben Twist's direction serve up the sparks and fizz, the meat and sours of this play. And the production, in an intense tear-provoking ending full of fresh starts, enriches and enchants as they gather for a fresh supper with its symbolic ingredients of fermented grape, risen bread and lamb. Chekhovian in its scope with WW2 and British/Irish/US tensions as its backdrop, in the forefront is love, carnal or not, always real and flawed, love haunted by compromise. As the men and women try to find security from that special other in a changing, difficult world. McGuinness's a writer in a modern world so he gives us a wider range of relationships but treats then in such a way our prejudices are waylaid as we see the human above all. Pitlochry's production rewards all in presenting this play where actor's have roles they can take root in and grow. Their demanding audience at matinee recieved with relish this production's complex feast of a play - it's just a shame that of all the plays this year it's the one with fewest performances. © Thelma Good 16 September 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com . The text of the play is published by Faber and is available from good booksellers. Review of another fine McGuiness play - Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme in a Glasgow Citizens Production. Cast of Dolly West's Kitchen - Dolly West - Helen Logan, Rima West - Clare Richards, Esther Hogan - Jacqueline Dutoit, Justin West - Dominic Brewer, Ned Hogan - Gregory Gudgeon, Anna Owens - Aoibheann O'Hara, Alec Redding - Jonathan Coote, Marcos Delavicario - Stewart Cairns and Jamie Reid - Hywel Morgan. Dates of Pitlochry Festival Theatre's production of Dolly West's Kitchen. Run in Rep from 3 Aug to 19 Oct 2005. 3 August at 8pm, 4 Aug* at 2pm, 9 Aug at 8pm, 17 Aug* at 8pm, 25 Aug at 8pm. 2 September at 8pm, 7 Sept* at 8pm, 15 Sept at 8pm, 23 Sept at 8pm, 26 Sept at 8pm. 1 October at 2pm, 8 Oct* at 8pm, 14 Oct at 8pm and final performance 22 Oct* at 8pm. 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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Dolly West's
Kitchen - Pitlochry Theatre Production.