No 37 -- Summer 1991 Edited by Michael Walters
At last, after sitting through many good, even excellent, productions of YEOMEN, this is the one I have been waiting so long to see, a jewel in the crown of The Orpheus Club, who celebrate their 99th year. The innovative set, in the shape of a giant horseshoe–shaped staircase with a catwalk above and behind it, was unique in my experience. There were suspended pieces of set dressing, a piece of wall here, an arched window there, a moveable tree branch stage right front, which caused a little ripple of amusement when it was lowered for the characters to sing beneath it, accompanied by birdsong! The lighting changes were many but appropriate to the mood or time of day in which the scene was set. The only hiatus was immediately before the arquebus shot, when Col. Fairfax had to walk slowly and sit on the steps as the lights dimmed to indicate the onset of evening. The lighting change took about a minute to take effect, and the audience were sure something was wrong, but I was assured afterwards that it was intentional.
Jack Point (Walter Paul, also Producer) was, apart from the use of an unconvincing, and not always in–place Welsh accent [presumably based on Eric Roberts; what that man has to answer for! MPW], quite outstanding. He left the audience in no doubt that Point was already suffering from heart trouble by indicating in his first scene that he was feeling pain in the chest and left arm after singing "The Merryman and his Maid", and had minor "twinges" as the show progressed to set us up for his final death scene. For this, he fell off the steps and lay on his back, half on the steps, half on the stage, facing the audience. It was a brave action and some of the audience were moved to tears.
Another excitingly emotional performance came from Esther Rieley's sympathetic Elsie. David Blackmore had much fun as Shadbolt. Dressed all in black but with Kenneth Sandford's short blonde wig, he made an imposing, but sometimes jocular, jailer. Andrew Bryce's Fairfax was full of swaggering bravado, but exhibited the necessary streak of cynical cruelty as he pushed Point aside and bade him "Go thou and apply it elsewhere". Jean Campbell's commanding presence as Dame Carruthers was also memorable. Her disdainful scorn in "Warders are ye" gave a meaning to the song which is sometimes lost in other performances, and then her touch of comedy in "Rapture, rapture", with Thomas Rieley (Meryll) was delightful. Chris Mills (Phoebe), Stuart Tait (Leonard) and Ann Gallagher (Kate) made the most of their roles. The powerful ensemble singing for the finale almost raised the roof.
LINDA WOOD
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