Author: Graham Wyles

HAY FEVER at Bath Theatre Royal

Few dramatists can lay a claim to be ‘actor proof’, in the sense that the lines in their plays or their plots do all the work and that however much a company sets out to mangle the playwright’s intentions, something wonderful will shine through. Fewer still go the extra mile and demand a particular kind of approach – indeed a particular kind of delivery – in order to unlock whatever treasure may lie within…Peter McKIntosh’s set is the kind you would like to move into as it sets the action firmly in the comfortable home counties.

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BAD JEWS at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath

“…This is a bitter comedy about tradition, culture and identity, but what sets it apart from the usual fare of young adults looking to set their own cultural agenda is that it is not inter-generational. The two main combatants in the battle of minds and wills are cousins of the same age…What lifts this play from worthy mediocrity is the passion of the characters. No holds are barred, as perceived faults are vitriolically dredged up. In this the author is well served by a strong cast and sure handed directing….With this powerful comedy the Ustinov has scored again with a play of substance and quality.”

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STALIN’S DAUGHTER at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol

David Lane’s play takes the form of a first person, present tense narration of the descent towards psychological collapse of a complex and troubled personality. In lesser hands the fact-into-conceit of this subject might have produced little more than a depressingly parochial chronology-cum-travelogue, but the direction Lane has taken gives us a credible exploration of an area of personal (and to a lesser extent social) identity as it affects a damaged personality. The bald facts of Svetlana Alliluyeva’s life are a matter of record; the defection, the marriages, the time in America and the subsequent British citizenship.

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A LITTLE NONSENSE at the Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol

“…There is some cleverly funny business involving balloons and childbirth and again a nice piece of mime about getting caught by a fishing hook…This is a pre-Edinburgh work-out for the company whose challenging theatrical cocktail of slapstick, surrealism and naturalism should, having found the right balance between those elements, find a natural home at the festival and a winning hand to show the festival-goers.”

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