June 8, 2011
The question with student productions is always, can charm, talent, or sheer enthusiasm compensate the audience for frightful production values, no budget and weak actors in minor roles? The answer in this case is a resounding YES!
First a few words about the setting, in case you’ve never penetrated Worcester’s stern classical railway station façade to the astounding bucolic wonderland beyond. Worcester is like the Tardis – much bigger on the inside, and its justly celebrated gardens are so beautiful and so vast that you do feel that some damage must have been done to the space-time continuum in order to insert them into the very centre of busy, crowded Oxford. In the capricious June sunshine of yesterday evening a shady lawn, a gravel path and a bridge over a stream were transformed by minimal effort (and I do mean minimal) into Leonato’s house in Messina, and peopled with conviction by those favourite characters we all know and love.
The production values, it must be said, were absolute pants: a bunch of more-or-less sixteenth century looking dresses and tunics spirited out of the OUDS costume cupboard, where plainly moths had been chowing down on them for some considerable time. The tunics were sported over cream chinos by the good male characters and black ones by the naughty male characters, leading one to conclude either that they possess legs that will not bear public exposure, or they’re a bit nesh about the cool of the evening.
There was no make-up, lighting, or scenery to speak of, but there was live music, which was a nice touch, and the Buskins took considerate care of their audience by giving them proper chairs with cushioned seats to sit on rather than rugs on the exceedingly damp ground, for which we were very grateful. An uncertain start to the proceedings showed some nerves and some imperfect grasp of lines, but long before the interval some really impressive performances had caused the story to grip and the magic to take hold. The audience began to laugh, began to feel. The atmosphere changed, became roseate – you could almost see people thinking, Christ, I’m so lucky to be here watching this.
It’s a straightforward interpretation of the play, no tricks. Emily Gill was an excellent Beatrice, beautiful, spirited, heart-broken, angry. Her performance was the absolute back bone of the serious part of the play, which is not to say she wasn’t good at the comedy too, because she was. Will Mendelowitz was sound as Benedick and Mike Gale was a handsome Claudio, but he needed to suffer a bit more visibly – it was unfortunate that the epitaph scene was staged with him kneeling and addressing the lawn, so that only the people in the front row could really see what he was doing. Hannah Timmis as Hero was also splendid, with a gloriously husky voice which will carry her far in Oxford drama. Zofia Bakowska and Kate Pooler excelled in the usually unrewarding roles of Margaret and Ursula, to which they brought bewitching levels of spirit and charm.
The revelation for me though was Amyas Bale as Dogberry. As we all know, Shakespeare’s comics for the masses can be excruciating, but even Michael Keaton’s inspired interpretation in the Branagh movie version could not compare with Bale’s gloriously vain and smug personation, which was genuinely funny – even my world-weary teen laughed aloud. I’m sad to see that he is a finalist so we probably won’t be seeing him in anything else at Oxford, but I hope he returns in a professional company soon (especially as he can’t have been doing much revision!). His side-kick Verges was played with impish charm by the diminutive Zoe McGee, who is also an adept at getting laughs out of Shakespeare’s leaden comedy. (Question: why did it become ‘Malapropisms’ and not ‘Dogberryisms’?)
In short, enough good stuff to make it very well worth while coming out to see it. Wrap up warm, and enjoy!
First a few words about the setting, in case you’ve never penetrated Worcester’s stern classical railway station façade to the astounding bucolic wonderland beyond. Worcester is like the Tardis – much bigger on the inside, and its justly celebrated gardens are so beautiful and so vast that you do feel that some damage must have been done to the space-time continuum in order to insert them into the very centre of busy, crowded Oxford. In the capricious June sunshine of yesterday evening a shady lawn, a gravel path and a bridge over a stream were transformed by minimal effort (and I do mean minimal) into Leonato’s house in Messina, and peopled with conviction by those favourite characters we all know and love.
The production values, it must be said, were absolute pants: a bunch of more-or-less sixteenth century looking dresses and tunics spirited out of the OUDS costume cupboard, where plainly moths had been chowing down on them for some considerable time. The tunics were sported over cream chinos by the good male characters and black ones by the naughty male characters, leading one to conclude either that they possess legs that will not bear public exposure, or they’re a bit nesh about the cool of the evening.
There was no make-up, lighting, or scenery to speak of, but there was live music, which was a nice touch, and the Buskins took considerate care of their audience by giving them proper chairs with cushioned seats to sit on rather than rugs on the exceedingly damp ground, for which we were very grateful. An uncertain start to the proceedings showed some nerves and some imperfect grasp of lines, but long before the interval some really impressive performances had caused the story to grip and the magic to take hold. The audience began to laugh, began to feel. The atmosphere changed, became roseate – you could almost see people thinking, Christ, I’m so lucky to be here watching this.
It’s a straightforward interpretation of the play, no tricks. Emily Gill was an excellent Beatrice, beautiful, spirited, heart-broken, angry. Her performance was the absolute back bone of the serious part of the play, which is not to say she wasn’t good at the comedy too, because she was. Will Mendelowitz was sound as Benedick and Mike Gale was a handsome Claudio, but he needed to suffer a bit more visibly – it was unfortunate that the epitaph scene was staged with him kneeling and addressing the lawn, so that only the people in the front row could really see what he was doing. Hannah Timmis as Hero was also splendid, with a gloriously husky voice which will carry her far in Oxford drama. Zofia Bakowska and Kate Pooler excelled in the usually unrewarding roles of Margaret and Ursula, to which they brought bewitching levels of spirit and charm.
The revelation for me though was Amyas Bale as Dogberry. As we all know, Shakespeare’s comics for the masses can be excruciating, but even Michael Keaton’s inspired interpretation in the Branagh movie version could not compare with Bale’s gloriously vain and smug personation, which was genuinely funny – even my world-weary teen laughed aloud. I’m sad to see that he is a finalist so we probably won’t be seeing him in anything else at Oxford, but I hope he returns in a professional company soon (especially as he can’t have been doing much revision!). His side-kick Verges was played with impish charm by the diminutive Zoe McGee, who is also an adept at getting laughs out of Shakespeare’s leaden comedy. (Question: why did it become ‘Malapropisms’ and not ‘Dogberryisms’?)
In short, enough good stuff to make it very well worth while coming out to see it. Wrap up warm, and enjoy!