REVIEWS
ENDGAME by Samuel Beckett - Unity Theatre, Liverpool - Thursday 1st to Saturday 3rd February 2001 by Lew Baxter, Liverpool Echo and Daily Post:
'It takes a brave soul to tackle Samuel Becket and capture his despairing view of the poignant bankruptcy of all human hopes, thoughts and ambitions.
But the fledgling Merlin Productions Inc: has achieved that with a gloomy but riveting panache of which even Beckett himself might approve.
Director Gerard Fitzpatrick Howkins, who also takes one of the main leads as the doleful character 'Clov', has a real handle on that country of the bling where some say Hell lies, yet others might suggest equates to an internal, aching Limbo. Indeed, Howkins' strength in the role is with the ease in which he conveys his apparent conviction in the sheer shallowness of the human predicament, and it's lowly place in the way of things.
He is a marvellous foil to Paul Strange as 'Hamm', a striking and powerful demonstration of tattered yet pointless emotions in the ante-room to Hell.
We are presented with a stark set as 'Hamm' in a wheelchair, blind and cantankerous discourses on the meaning of anything, beckons 'Clov' to attend his every whim and need.
Nearby, in giant cribs, are two enormous wheelie bins containing the forms of his father 'Nagg', also awaiting the call from eternity, and his femme fatale 'Nell', played with respectable restraint by Craig McGrath and Dawn Adams. The performances portray sharply, with a certain gutsy churlishness, Beckett's anxiety to assemble a litany of complaint against the uselessness of everything.
This is a locally produced work, with Howkins again taking the honours with Sandie Lavelle, and their grasp of the tantalising language games engaged by the Irish playwright heralds, hopefully a tranche of more good material to follow.
LEW BAXTER
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell - Unity Theatre 10th & 11th May 2005 by Adam Ford - Nerve Magazine:
'In 1945, George Orwell published 'Animal Farm' - a political fable that angered both left and right but became a regular feature on school curriculums and reading lists around the world.
Tired of being abused by their human masters, Manor Farm's animals rebel and decide to set up their own perfect society. In theory, every animal's needs will be taken care of and they will live dignified, fulfilling lives. But the pigs gradually establish a hypocritical new order that is just as bad as the one it replaced.
It's certainly a great story, but one that is very difficult to bring to the stage. For one thing, an entire script has to be written, since the novel is mostly descriptive. Perhaps even more importantly, Orwell's references to the Soviet Union now belong to a different age. How relevant can you make the play when the Berlin Wall has long since crumbled and nobody trusts politicians anymore anyway?
But the company has had a good go at dealing with these problems for this Liverpool-based production. The use of scouse dialect rooted the story geographically, and this worked well - lending humour and making it easy to empathise with the tragic characters. Technological tricks such as a projected TV debate over whether or not to build a windmill gave the events a modern feel., although they stretched the Russian Revolution allegory to breaking point. The productions greatest strength lay in the quality of the acting. Almost all the performers seemed 'real' because they looked enthusiastic about being in the play., as opposed to just any play. Richard Helm made an impressive 'Boxer', rallying his fellow animals to even greater efforts towards their dreams of freedom. Richie Grice was assured as the evil 'Napoleon', whilst Gerard Fitzpatrick Howkins revelled in the malevolence of the scheming 'Squealer', playing the public face of the pig regime as equal parts spin doctor and SS officer.
ADAM FORD
OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck - Unity Theatre, Liverpool - Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd September 2006 by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo:
Of Mice and Men is an epic tale on a small scale, so it is perhaps fitting this latest production to come to Liverpool is playing at it's most intimate theatre. Steinbeck's novella is both hugely popular and consistently vilified.
It has previously been banned from American school libraries for promoting euthanasia.
But that is ignoring it's powerful themes of stunted hopes and dreams, the plight of mankind and how everyone lives at the hands of fate. It is heady stuff, which is why perhaps Tom McClennan's adaptation has tried to inject a little light relief. The McClennan version has a twist which, depending on your viewpoint, is either inspired or deeply irritating.
Where the production starts working, where it captivates, is when they successfully drop the tomfoolery, stop neon-signing the big themes and instead successfully inhabit the little characters.
With each of the three actors playing several parts, and often more than one of them swapping into the same character, you have to pay close attention.
Simple giant Lennie, theoretically the mouse of the title is play by Gerard Fitzpatrick Howkins with the pondering, stuttering, wondering of a small child.
Richard Helm as George successfully reveals both the character's love for and exasperation with his rabbit obsessed charge, and is restrained as the black farmhand Crooks.
With understated central performances, it is left to Shaun Mason to showboat with flamboyant supporting roles, including old farmhand Candy and the teasing wife of ranch hand Curley - CATHERINE JONES
FLORRIE DALY by Gerard Fitzpatrick Howkins - United Services Club, Liverpool - 11th & 13th December 2003 by Julian Bond - Nerve Magazine:
What a relief! And how refreshing! Not a luvvie or darling in sight. Set in Liverpool still coming to terms with World War Two, the 'Florrie' of the title is a war widow looking after her daughter. A soldier from her dead husband's unit turns up, and is viewed with suspicion from all sides.
This was real theatre that meant something to ordinary people, like the man I sat next to who told me he had, 'lived and breathed', what we had just watched. The sets were well designed, not overbearing, allowing the audience to concentrate on the emotions portrayed by the characters. The cast were generally strong with a spirit of honesty. The presentation of class distinctions between the upwardly mobile landlord and his floozy, was brilliantly brought out in a pub fight scene, which was pure emotion and entirely believable. Also of interest was the post-war sense of loss the characters portrayed. It was wonderfully directed by Richie Grice who also took a part. - JULIAN BOND