No 42 -- Summer 1994 Edited by Michael Walters
ULU productions are very variable in style and quality - one never really knows what to expect - this is what makes them exciting. Sometimes the orchestra is no more than perfunctory, but for this production a 20-piece band had been assembled, and gave a reasonable account of themselves, though, inevitably, in comparison with their sister company ICOS, they were not in the running. The Toye overture was used, and conductor Michael Clarke, from Australia, guided them through it sensitively, but the players were not free from wrong notes. They were scruffily dressed.
The performance had traditional scenery and costumes. The cast was small, the chorus consisting of only 4 bridesmaids (including Zorah and Ruth). The venue gave cause for concern. The theatre is in the centre of the Student's Union building, surrounded on all sides by rooms, and during the performance there were thumps and thuds from overhead, and intrusive "music" from a disco in the adjoining bar. The theatre is develloping a squalid ambience which it never used to have. The production was conventional in basic concept, but with embellishments, some of which worked. Two yokels were onstage at the beginning, and made ham-fisted attempts to woo Rose when she appeared. They were biting their nails and combing their hair when these were mentioned in Rose's speech (quite a nice touch), eventually taking to their heels in fright.
As Dick Dauntless, [*****] was straightforward and commendably restrained, but as Sir Gilbert Murgatroyd, with stupid wig and OTT acting, he was both unsuitable and insufferable. Stuart Barker was splendidly melodramatic as Sir Despard, a nice moment was when he (Dracula-like) almost went to bite Margaret on the neck at the end of Act 1. John Hargreaves (Adam) was out of one of the worst of horror movies, obviously imitating Lon Chaney's Frankenstein complete with limp. Most unsuitable.
Now, I have to admit that I fully intended to write more, but owing to excess of work, the review was not finished at the time, and alas, when I returned to it, many weeks later, the details had faded from my mind. It is not the first time this has happened.
MICHAEL WALTERS
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