I watched this clever adaptation of the Graham Greene novel at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne on Wednesday 10th July 2024. It was performed by a company of four male actors, each of whom took on multiple (24) and overlapping roles. For example, each of them took the role of Henry Pulling, the risk-averse retired bank manager, and three of them played the rule-breaking Aunt Augusta. They also played other characters, of whom there were many.
Mr Pulling meets Aunt Augusta at his mother’s funeral and quickly discovers that his mother wasn’t his mother and that his father was a serial adulterer. She introduces him to Wordsworth, her lover from Sierra Leone, and whisks him away on the Orient Express for a bizarre adventure involving drug smuggling. Later she summons him to South America where further escapades involve another of her lovers, this time an Italian wanted for having collaborated with the Nazis.
This action-packed adventure needed to be performed at a fast speed in order to cram it in to under two hours. The actors seamlessly swapped characters, clearly identifying each one with the help of a hat or a jacket or a shawl and an accent. The whole thing demanded a significant effort of concentration. But the production was incredibly slick. The set, brilliantly designed by Alex Marker, consisted of trunks and suitcases which were rearranged into beds, tables, platforms, steps, cars ... Postcards were also projected into the back of the stage to identify the scene, even going split-screen when Henry and Augusta were chatting on the telephone.
The actors were (in alphabetical order) Nana Amoo-Gottfried, Pete Ashmore, Toby Manley and Ross Waiton. They worked brilliantly as a team so there was no stand-out performer.
The same team (phil&ben productions) are offering Dangerous Obsession by N J Crisp at the Devonshire starting on 18th July.
Mr Pulling meets Aunt Augusta at his mother’s funeral and quickly discovers that his mother wasn’t his mother and that his father was a serial adulterer. She introduces him to Wordsworth, her lover from Sierra Leone, and whisks him away on the Orient Express for a bizarre adventure involving drug smuggling. Later she summons him to South America where further escapades involve another of her lovers, this time an Italian wanted for having collaborated with the Nazis.
This action-packed adventure needed to be performed at a fast speed in order to cram it in to under two hours. The actors seamlessly swapped characters, clearly identifying each one with the help of a hat or a jacket or a shawl and an accent. The whole thing demanded a significant effort of concentration. But the production was incredibly slick. The set, brilliantly designed by Alex Marker, consisted of trunks and suitcases which were rearranged into beds, tables, platforms, steps, cars ... Postcards were also projected into the back of the stage to identify the scene, even going split-screen when Henry and Augusta were chatting on the telephone.
The actors were (in alphabetical order) Nana Amoo-Gottfried, Pete Ashmore, Toby Manley and Ross Waiton. They worked brilliantly as a team so there was no stand-out performer.
The same team (phil&ben productions) are offering Dangerous Obsession by N J Crisp at the Devonshire starting on 18th July.
Comments
Post a Comment