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Everybody Loves Opal |
[print] |
Newport Playgoers Society |
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Dolman Theatre, Newpo |
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April 13, 2010 |
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Light and often slight modern comedies are a staple of amateur drama despite excursions into the repertoire of tribulation, complexity and tragedy.And they don't come much more inconsiderable than John Patrick's Everybody Loves Opal, a whimsy about three baddies and their attempts to see off a goodie who finally 'corrupts' them with her unassailable virtue. Written in the early 1960s, it has become popular with stock companies mainly because it is a set designer's dream and it creates in the character of Opal Kronkie an opportunity for a singular performance. But director Rosemary Bissex and her team don't quite make the most of what little there is in the way of black comedy. For much of the time one finds oneself scanning the fine set, which she designed with James Lane and which represents Opal's bag-lady hoard of found objects. Although Anne Harrison plays Opal with some bravura, few could make of this dishevelled paragon the harder-edged individual she needs to be. At one stage, Opal asks baddie Solomon Bozo (Julian Powell) where he gets his 'repartees' (I think I heard right), a question that pre-supposes a background of running wit which simply isn't there. Jez Hynes as polysyllabic baddie Brad Winter and Lauren Brown as his moll Gloria find the highest energy levels, suggesting that the piece needs to be much faster-paced if anything is to be done with it. The Doctor (Rob Jacob) and Officer Jankie (Paul Bevis) are there to fill out the storyline, such as it is. And it isn’t much. |
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| Nigel Jarrett | |
| This review has been read 155 times |
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