No 41 -- Spring 1994 Edited by Michael Walters
For YS, this was a surprisingly conventional and anodyne production. The thrust stage was ingeniously covered with several levels of greensward, "dotted with unnumbered daisies". These rostra were flat but with irregular edges, and passed quite well for a slightly "pretty" shore. For Act 2 the erection of several bits of masonry and tombstones at the back transformed it into a ruined temple. The costumes seemed indeterminate in period, but were attractive. Nick Poole was an innocuous Major-General, Steve Taylor a vigorous Pirate King, David Atkins a diffident Frederic and Clare Turner a strong Ruth. Producer Wesley Henderson's major innovation was to spilt the work for Mabel's sisters among 5 girls called (in programme order) Edith, Dorothy, Rachel, Isabel and Eleanor. It was of course impossible to work out which of them was doing which bit, but they all spoke and sang adequately.
MICHAEL WALTERS
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