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Theatre listings > Kind of Alaska and Moonlight (Scottish Premieres). The Last Of The Classic Seasons. Playwright - Harold Pinter. Director - Andy Arnold. Designer - Sarah Paulley. Lighting Designer - trane-house-red. Costume Designer - Fi Carrington. Assistant Director - Laura Bissell. Associate Designer - Will Holt. Cast - Here. Company - The Arches Theatre Company Website. Venue - The ArchesTheatre. . Dates - 30 Sept - 15 Oct (not Suns) at 7:30pm. Run Time - The double bill takes 1 hours 45 mins with an interval. Reviewer - Thelma Good. Awakening performance. In this last of the Classic Seasons it's Harold Pinter which recieves Director Andy Arnold's skillful attention. It's also a chance to see Arnold on stage in Moonlight, one of the double billed plays, with Betrayal following opening later this October. First though is Jill Riddiford's awakening performance with Deborah in A Kind Of Alaska, Deborah has just been roused by a drug from her 29 year coma. She went into it at the age of 16, she talks with that flat childishness of a teenager yet to experience raw adult life, her state changing continually as she tries to take in enormity of what has happened without her. It's an wonderful part for an actor and Riddiford's performance illuminates the stage. Stephen Clyde as Hornby the doctor who protected Deborah from medically being switched off and who has now given her consciousness again and Morag Stark as Pauline one of her two sisters give fine support. The set, lighting and costumes with the bed central on a small raked stage all suggest the strange near limbo land Deborah is in. In Moonlight the bed is moved front stage left behind is a slope on which Andy's daughter Bridget moves her estrangement only barely hinted at. In the bed is the dying Andy, Andy Arnold gives him quirky ironical timing to go with Pinter's honed dialogue. Sitting at his side is his wife Bel, Morag Stark, occasionally they spar as only long habitués can. To their right are Jake and Fred they may be brothers they seem to be Andy's sons though Pinter never totally underlines exactly who they are, at times they seem to be beings who exist only in Andy's dying brain. Occasionally appearing are Maria, Andy's long term lover and her husband the ex-amateur referee. The accommodation of both couples to the warm currents between Maria and Andy is suggested with an understanding touch in a well cast production where gentle humour is used to explore the strangeness of relating. Both plays are performed in the accents and speech rhythms Pinter designed them for, he's a much translated playwright. Walking back to the train station with those southern tones in my head, while all around talked in Glaswegian, I fell to wondering what a Scots version would sound and play like. Certainly Moonlight's a more confusing work than A Kind Of Awakening but the pair make an double bill that will have you walking away wondering who you are, what life is and how rare true connection is. © Thelma Good 3 October 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Casts- A Kind Of Alaska - Deborah - Jill Riddiford and Hornby - Stephen Clyde and Pauline - Morag Stark. Moonlight - Bridget - Jackie Wylie, Andy - Andy Arnold, Bel - Morag Stark, Fred - Ben Hitchins, Jake - Joe Arkley, Maria - Jill Riddiford and Ralph - Stephen Clyde. 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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