“Blell is an extremely talented actor and made this somewhat confusing farce, a bit more enjoyable to watch.”
Matthew Parker’s hilarious, yet bizarre production of Thark begins with a lot of promise, but it soon becomes apparent that this is not the typical fast-paced farce, that one had hoped for. Poor accents, slow action and strange characters, were just some of the things that left me feeling rather disappointed. Set in the 1920s, Sir Hector Benbow (Mathijs Swarte) secretly intends to take his new lady friend, Cherry, (Isabella Hayward) out for dinner. However, this does not go accordingly to plan as his wife, Lady Benbow, (Charlotte Vassell) arrives home early and he, along with the help of his nephew Ronald, (Robin Blell) are left cleaning up the mess that Hector so foolishly has got himself into.
Just a few minutes into the show, Mathijs Swarte’s accent was very frustrating, as he would flitter between a very southern American accent, to a posh English accent. Robin Blell was by far the star of the show, as his accent was very impressive and he delivered an incredible performance that had great energy, and great charisma. One scene which tickled me the most, was when Ronald desperately tried to get Kitty’s (Natalia Lewis) attention, in hope that she would realise that he truly loves her and not Cherry. Having already presented a bunch of flowers to her and pretended to be choking on a phone wire, Kitty still refuses to listen to Ronald. Interestingly, what made this scene so laugh out loud funny, was Blell’s hilarious one-liners and great timing. Blell is an extremely talented actor and made this somewhat confusing farce, a bit more enjoyable to watch.
Soon after this, several of the characters suddenly began to do a rather random 1920s Charleston dance. Despite the dance being actually very good, it was very confusing and didn’t help move the narrative forward. To make things even more confusing, Act Two focused on ‘Thark,’ (the family home that is thought to be haunted), but ignored almost everything that happened in Act One. This made the whole production feel a bit disjointed as it would have been nice to have seen how the relationship developed between Hector and Lady Bowmen. The trouble is, Matthew Parker’s production was engaging, but it didn’t live up to my expectations, and I often found myself questioning a lot more as opposed to laughing.
What angered me the most was the ending. It finished too soon and didn’t make sense, as there was so much more that needed to be explored. The whole point of theatre is to tell a story and most stories have a beginning, middle and an end, but perhaps the cast and crew were in a rush, as this production had a beginning, middle but no end. Thus making this piece of theatre incomplete.
Overall, Matthew Parker’s production does have the potential to be a fantastic farce, but having a confusing plot and a terrible ending, was extremely frustrating to watch.
Reviewed by Jessica Brewer
Photography by lhphotoshots
Thark
is at the Drayton Arms Theatre until 6th January 2018
The planet-sized egos of left wing German playwright Bertolt Brecht and Hollywood film star Charles Laughton clash as they negotiate the translation and adaptation of Brecht’s play Life of Galileo for its American premiere, with Laughton lined up for the lead.
The themes of Life of Galileo – an account of Galileo’s trial for the heresy of believing that the Earth orbits the Sun and his subsequent recantation under threat of torture – reflected in the lives of Laughton, a gay man in 1940s America, and Brecht, whose left wing sympathies would eventually lead him before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Orbits explores how – just as Galileo crumbled under the Inquisition – Brecht’s beloved ‘concrete truth’, could crumble under pressures, political, historical and personal. It’s a fitting tale perhaps for the post-truth times we find ourselves in today.
Peter Saracen (Brecht) Peter has acted for stage, film and television. Played the lead in Heresy at the Tabard Theatre as the inquisitor Don Domingo in 2014. He played the Pastor in RETZ’s immersive piece The Trial, developed in collaboration with the Barbican and Guildhall and supported by Sky Arts and the Arts Council in 2013. He appeared in the film musical Les Miserables in a singing character part in 2012. He has a wide range of experience, from the classics to street theatre including an appearance in Ken Campbell and Neil Oram’s legendary 20-hour epic The Warp at the Roundhouse Theatre in 1999.
Edmund Dehn (Laughton) Edmund Dehn’s credits include: Prospero, Job, Becket, Coriolanus amongst many others on stage. He is known for his international hit internet portrayal of popular worldwide cult figure Judge Minty (Best Action Film and Audience Award Wasteland Festival 2013). TV credits include Robert H Jackson in Speer und Er (Bavariafilm), Carlo in 2 series of The 10%ers (Carlton TV) and Gumboil in Knightmare (Anglia TV) Films and short films include: Spoon (with Rutger Hauer), Brothers Of War, Olive Green, With Love From Suffolk and Lovelorn (Best Supporting Actor LA Reel Film Festival 2009), Junta & Afterlife (Cannes Film Festival Shorts 2014 & 2015). Strontium Dog, Edmund’s latest film, is premiering in London February 11 at 2000AD Festival. Edmund is also a successful voice actor for corporates, commercials and audio books – he was the sole reader on the unabridged Gormenghast Trilogy.
Wally Sewell (writer) In 2013, as Playwright in Residence for OPEN Ealing Wally wrote Royal Wedding, specially commissioned to exploit the siting of OPEN’s premises next to an erotic goods emporium. The Wrong Tree won an award in the finals of the Off Cut Festival at the Riverside Studios in 2011, and A Muse of Fire was performed there in 2012. The Garden was performed at the Lost Theatre in 2012 and The Adventure of the Crying Boy at the Drayton Court Theatre in 2012. His play Spogons was short-listed for the Croydon Warehouse International Playwriting competition in 2007.
Anthony Shrubsall (director) Anthony Shrubsall is a freelance theatre director. A founder member of the Entire Theatre Company and an established director on the London Fringe. Previous work has included Zena Edwards’s Security – the first UK production selected for the Shizuoka Festival, Japan, and Richard Tyrone Jones’s Big Heart at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was adapted into a series for BBC Radio 4 in 2012. His work last year included interrupt The Routine: The Gin Chronicles – A Scottish Adventure at the Bridewell Theatre and Edinburgh Festival; Saffron Hill at The Pleasance Theatre; ORBITS in Germany and Poland and Real Life TV at the Barons Court Theatre.
Lucy Appleby (Producer) Lucy started as a child actor, trained with Uta Hagen in New York, and worked in film, TV, radio and theatre in England and Japan, where she also specialised in voice-overs. She has directed for Theatre 503 Rapid Write Response and at the Drayton Arms Theatre, co-directed on Effie’s Burning at the Etcetera Theatre and directed The Radio Theatre Company at the Bridewell Theatre. She was assistant director on two productions that went to the Edinburgh Festival in 2014, Frank Sent Me and Signal Failure, which also went to New York. She has directed several short plays for Ealing’s 6X10 series, and she has also directed at the University of West London. She is currently the director of the sell-out production of Brexit the Musical which is on in London.
The Entire Theatre Company Two performers, a writer, a director and a producer. We create stripped-back productions, that explore character and concept through the medium of the duologue. Our motto: ‘small stage, big ideas’.
