ACT Reviews 2022-2023 Season

Director John Cummings positioned the action at different points and heights on the stage (with only the fence on the highest platform, perhaps symbolising Matthew's death alone with only the sky and grass for company), which helped to separate out all the different characters; this was very helpful (as was the Narrator's explanation of who was speaking) due to the rapid succession of new characters we were introduced to throughout the play. John supported the cast to give some very powerful performances, and his passion for the play was clear both in his programme note and through the presentation of the production overall. And now to the cast. In a play of 51 characters portrayed by 15 cast members it is hard to offer individual critique, some parts were very small, and others had more opportunity for development and showcasing. There were no weak links in this cast – there was not one moment when I found myself not fully focused on whoever was taking "centre stage" at that time and all actors were generous performers with good accents. A special mention certainly needs to go to Eleanor Jolley playing the Narrator – as she was not credited as the Narrator in the programme, I can only assume that she stepped into the role at a fairly late stage, and yet she appeared confident with a strong accent and I did not notice her once getting lost or losing her character. There were some occasional word stumbles, as there were for several of the cast members, but when the script is mostly monologues, this is to be expected and all cast members recovered impeccably. Some cast members were given varied multiple roles; for others the roles seemed to be portrayed quite similarly – I am not sure if this was purposeful based on the script or down to direction/ artistic choice, or simply because the characters were so similar and shown so briefly that it was hard to make them distinct. For example, James Bateman's portrayals of Andrew Gomez and Aaron McKinney, both young men in the legal system, were quite similar – for both James adopted creepy wide staring eyes and a certain "attitude", although they had quite different accents. Both were excellent portrayals, but it is a shame there was not another actor/ actress who could have played one of the roles so as to give two more distinct characters. In contrast, James's portrayals of