The Stables Theatre and Arts Centre
The Bourne, Hastings
East Sussex TN34 3BD
01424 423221
The Bourne, Hastings
East Sussex TN34 3BD
01424 423221
The Dwarfs
By Harold Pinter
A Stables Theatre production
Directed by Rosie McAndrew
Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down
By Richard Cameron
A Stables Theatre production
Directed by Deryn Lake
8–16 June 2007
Reviewed by Penny Jeffries
By Harold Pinter
A Stables Theatre production
Directed by Rosie McAndrew
Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down
By Richard Cameron
A Stables Theatre production
Directed by Deryn Lake
8–16 June 2007
Reviewed by Penny Jeffries
The Dwarfs was first performed in 1963. It is set in Hackney, where Pinter was born, and chronicles the mental disintegration of the main character, Len. The language with which the characters confuse and attack each other is deceptively simple, and their emotional range narrow. The challenge is to bring to light the emotions lurking below the surface. This is done well.
The Dwarfs shows us three people entwined in a friendship that seems to have little comfort for any of them. The friendship and the main character’s sanity seem to peter out at the same time. This is played out in small rooms, meanly furnished. The production succeeds in conveying the early sixties with a careful choice of costume and props.
Bill Allender, as Len, beautifully brings out the manic and more subdued sides to Len. Len frequently speaks at, not to, the other two. When he does address them, his meanings and motives are uncertain.
Both the other actors are convincing. They clearly show the struggle to connect to Len’s increasing disorder and the questions it raises about whether they have a friendship at all. Tim Bowen, as Pete, seethes with irritation and incomprehension. Jason Quinnell brings out Mark’s sulky not-quite confrontation with the far more aggressive Pete particularly well.
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Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down
Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down, which won Richard Cameron the Sunday Times Playwriting Award in 1990, has a similarly strong sense of place—in this case the post-industrial North. Industrial remains, in the form of abandoned canals and quarries, loom large.
This play is also a three-hander, this time for women. The action is nearly all told in a series of monologues by three strangers with secrets. Gradually their tales entwine as it is clear that their lives have all been damaged by one violent man. The story twists and, until the last few minutes, the end is in doubt.
Ruby, played by Jackie Eichler, recounts her struggles to raise her son and keep him from the knowledge of who his father is. Her stillness seems to show the strain of the secrecy twisting her up. Lynette, played by Zola Thomas, recounts a childhood fraught with anxiety and the terror of living with violence with no hope of refuge. Her miming of having her face ground into the dinner by her violent husband made the audience jump. Dodie, played with considerable assurance by Stables newcomer Camilla Whitehill, tells of being hunted, with the local “slow boy”, by louts with shotguns.
Lighting and staging divisions isolate the women from each other and accentuate their loneliness. Whatever the women do in their lives, that violent incident has consequences for them all. The tension of the story is sustained right up to end.
Both plays are menacing, tense and have a strong sense of place. They prove a compelling evening in the theatre.
The Dwarfs shows us three people entwined in a friendship that seems to have little comfort for any of them. The friendship and the main character’s sanity seem to peter out at the same time. This is played out in small rooms, meanly furnished. The production succeeds in conveying the early sixties with a careful choice of costume and props.
Bill Allender, as Len, beautifully brings out the manic and more subdued sides to Len. Len frequently speaks at, not to, the other two. When he does address them, his meanings and motives are uncertain.
Both the other actors are convincing. They clearly show the struggle to connect to Len’s increasing disorder and the questions it raises about whether they have a friendship at all. Tim Bowen, as Pete, seethes with irritation and incomprehension. Jason Quinnell brings out Mark’s sulky not-quite confrontation with the far more aggressive Pete particularly well.
Expand
Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down
This play is also a three-hander, this time for women. The action is nearly all told in a series of monologues by three strangers with secrets. Gradually their tales entwine as it is clear that their lives have all been damaged by one violent man. The story twists and, until the last few minutes, the end is in doubt.
Ruby, played by Jackie Eichler, recounts her struggles to raise her son and keep him from the knowledge of who his father is. Her stillness seems to show the strain of the secrecy twisting her up. Lynette, played by Zola Thomas, recounts a childhood fraught with anxiety and the terror of living with violence with no hope of refuge. Her miming of having her face ground into the dinner by her violent husband made the audience jump. Dodie, played with considerable assurance by Stables newcomer Camilla Whitehill, tells of being hunted, with the local “slow boy”, by louts with shotguns.
Lighting and staging divisions isolate the women from each other and accentuate their loneliness. Whatever the women do in their lives, that violent incident has consequences for them all. The tension of the story is sustained right up to end.
Both plays are menacing, tense and have a strong sense of place. They prove a compelling evening in the theatre.
Also in this section >
Photographs > www.artypharty.com
A selection of production photographs from the 1950s to the present is available at our photographer Peter Mould’s website.
A selection of production photographs from the 1950s to the present is available at our photographer Peter Mould’s website.
