Winner of the Soho Theatre’s biennial Verity Bargate award, Pastoral is a stark look at humanity, juxtaposing surreal comedy with an unsettling darkness that lingers for a long time after the company take their bow.

A plant is growing through the carpet in Moll’s apartment. Voles are strutting out of Paperchase. It seems that nature is trying to reclaim its earth with wildly spreading weeds, fighting back against humans who have manipulated it for so long. A prevalent reminder that nature, that we find so inherently beautiful, can be destructive. Moll is told to prepare for a holiday, but soon she finds herself trapped with her two sons. A married couple are trying to evacuate as well, with their courageous 11-year-old son despite not having any food to survive.

Thomas Eccleshare’s imaginative first play has a subtle power and strength behind it throughout. Moll’s shrewd commentary on the street action below her flat window was flawlessly delivered by Anna Calder-Marshall, evoking all the laughter she could in her hilarious rant about “the fat”. Calder-Marshall played Moll skillfully and naturally, fully developing her eccentricity, without allowing her to become a caricature.

Moll finds a companion in Arthur, played by Polly Frame, whose boyish gestures and mannerisms capture the essence of childhood. However, she fails to match Calder-Marshall, allowing her performance to be slightly too exaggerated, perhaps reminiscent of pantomime, particularly in the over-the-top hunger mime accompanying an amusing tribute to doughnuts.

The audience find themselves laughing at the absurdity Pastoral shows, drawing on the apparent humour of a fully-grown man struggling to capture a tiny hedgehog. But the laughs quickly die as a more frightening tone sets in. This is mirrored in the memorable deterioration of the set, including a collapsing floor, growing tree and daffodil darts falling from the sky: a clever touch by director Steve Marmion.

The final image of Moll slow dancing and sharing a cigarette with Arthur, her young knight without shining armour, was strangely touching. Both were left abandoned by society, deemed too weak to escape. A bride-to-be appears in the auditorium fully equipped with fairy wings, tutu and personalised T-shirt, but this sight, which previously was laughed at, now instills a sense of grief as she delivers her powerful wedding speech.

Pastoral’s black comedy has such force, making the entire play incredibly sobering. As the pressure begins to mount for the starving group, they turn on their visitor: along-awaited Ocado deliveryman who suffers as the group succumb to something of a Lord of the Flies mentality. It’s easy to shrug off the act of violence at first. But once you are reminded that these six people are stuck in the flat starving to death, the question is: what would you stoop to?

Pastoral is playing at the Soho Theatre until June 8. For more information and tickets, see http://www.sohotheatre.com

The play, by Tim Price, explores family ties and how we all have to compromise in some way. We watch Menna struggle to come to terms with how her mother and aunt live their lives and discover that she has similar difficulties at home. At  the heart of the play is the tenderness and devotion of the sisters, played extremely well by Anna Carteret and Anna Calder-Marshall. Imogen Stubbs as Menna captures perfectly the frustrations of her character and the helplessness she feels.

The set design is very clever for this one act play and adds to the atmosphere and intimacy of the scenes we are witnessing. The performances are excellent – I dare you to try to leave without a tear in your eye…

In I Can’t Remember Anything, we’re with neighbours Leo & Leonora. (It’s only now, 12 hours later, that I’m pondering the significance of those names – two sides of the same character / personality?). They are in life’s endgame, forever recalling the past, often disagreeing. Miller seems to be exploring how memories change depending on what we want to remember, our hindsight and disposition. He paints a rather poignant and moving picture of ageing which is beautifully staged and performed with great humanity by real husband-and-wife team David Burke and Anna Calder-Marshall.

Clara is a detective story. We’re in the apartment of Clara, who has been murdered, with her father and the detective who is questioning him. In a state of shock, her father is struggling to recall things, including the name of the ex-con who his daughter was seeing and who may be a prime suspect. He has visions of his daughter the detective doesn’t see and on one occasion they talk. Of course, it isn’t really a detective story as we’re again exploring issues of memory. Rolf Saxon as the father and Roger Sloman as the detective are both outstanding.

I’d be lying if I said I understood exactly what Miller is trying to say, but it certainly makes you think. Whatever you decide, you have to accept that director Ed Viney and designer Anna Finch have given them impeccable productions with the help of a first class cast that the best theatres in the land would be proud to have. Another gold star for Jermyn Street Theatre.

He came late to Third Star. That is to say that for nearly three years, whenever we had auditions we had asked his agents to get him in, only to find he was always busy. It is of course a quirk of fate, as in so many areas of making a film, that lead to his finally being available to come and meet us when we were finally well and truly ready to shoot.

His reading of Davy was perfect. What more can be said?

In his first reading I was able to see at last, right there in front of me, exactly why Davy is my favourite character in the script. Davy is no more confused about life than the other four, but his honesty (about everything that makes his life difficult) makes his fear and uncertainty seem to be far greater. In fact – his honesty make his life the most simple. This is subtle stuff to play at times and where the script let’s Davy down Tom’s portrayal more than makes up for it.

Tom is a handsome chap of course, but even in the rushes Davy’s calm face gained a kind of enigmatic beauty. For all his over cautiousness and moaning – that beauty comes from inside the character of Davy – and it’s why we would all want him as one of our best friends. But the brilliance in being able to create that is all Tom.

That talent would be enough for any actor – but I think what I cherish most from working with Tom on Third Star is that he is one of the funniest bastards I have ever known. I actually think his mind follows paths that only the great comic creators take.  He is a skilled writer and I’m sure he’ll be an equally talented director.

It was actually only after filming Third Star that Tom and I became close friends.  Some time later Tom did ‘Design For Living’ at the Old Vic. I went to see it three times and EVERY time, I found that I was still totally enthralled at his performance, in a way that one can usually only experience with someone who maintains a certain mystery, because their real personae is unknown to you. And that mystery is the alluring thing that he naturally possesses  – and why he is so fascinating to watch as any character and equally exciting to know in real life.

This week, I am going to see his parents in a play together. His father, well known for his elaborate practical jokes backstage, is David Burke and his mother is Anna Calder Marshall. I’m sure I’m going to see evidence of where ‘the talented actor Tom Burke’ comes from. But I also know that at some point in the evening, when the lights come up, Tom will say something to me that I could never have expected in a million years. And apart from his love of the work and the text, in writing this, I wonder if it simply his devilish taste for seeing the absurdities of every human around him that drives his talent.

I cannot, for one second, imagine being bored by Tom Burke. And that is about the nicest thing I can say about anyone.

This article/review Copyright 2011-2012 Masai Inc.

THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR was the fifth and last of the feature length Sherlock Holmes’ movies, produced by Granada Television and WGBH Boston, starring the great Jeremy Brett and the talented Edward Hardwicke it is also seen as the capper to the third series of Sherlock Holmes, “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes” (Not quite correct since the source story is actually part of Doyle’s 1st short story collection, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES).

While I intend to do an overview of the entire venerated and venerable series in an upcoming installment, for this post I wanted to cover this specific episode, that left quite an impression on me, THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR.

Available either in boxed set containing all the Jeremy Brett episodes, not the cheapest thing on the planet but considering it is the complete collection, over 2500 minutes of (without argument from me) the finest film interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, and comes with commentaries and booklet it is HIGHLY recommended (Make sure you are buying from a reputable seller, as there are low quality copies out there without commentaries or booklet). Or if you just want the ELIGIBLE BACHELOR DVD, there’s a link for that as well.

If you’re going to purchase please click on the respective DVD images below. Your DVD collection will thank you, and this blog can always use the 2 cents (And I only recommend items I personally own, and think are great).

Enough schilling, now onto the review:

At the time of THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR’s filming, Early 1993 (It would air Feb 1993 in England and a year later, Feb 1994 in the States), Jeremy Brett had been playing, masterfully, the role of Sherlock Holmes for over Nine years. And would produce only 6 more Sherlock Holmes episodes, and two non-Holmes feature films prior to his death a scant two years later on 12 September 1995 at the age of 61.

Cause of death has been listed as iatrogenic congestive cardiac failure, which is a fancy way of saying medical incompetence. The medicine Brett was being given to treat his supposed Bi-polar disorder wreaked havoc with his, from a childhood sickness, already weakened heart. Though to be fair, no doubt Brett’s heavy smoking habit had no small part in his untimely demise.

What is unquestionable is that Brett’s appearance and the state of his health would take a quite noticeable and quite drastic turn for the worse in 1994, and is clearly seen in these last shows he left us. But like the driven, consummate professional he was, he soldiered on, to the last. Bringing, to the very end, a dedication that is only to be admired and marveled at.

But if one must pick an episode of Sherlock Holmes and a performance of Jeremy Brett from this latter period to hold up as great, as perfect denouement for a career and character… it would be the haunting and haunted ELIGIBLE BACHELOR.

This episode is selected for various reasons, the foremost being….

Well, let’s stop there. I think that gives you a pretty good taste of why this is one of the most popular articles on this blog. The Full, huge,jam packed 2800 word!!! review/article is available either in PDF format(great for laptops and desktops) or Epub (perfect for tablets and ereaders) format. Very low cost for this popular article, and your purchase is GREATLY APPRECIATED and helps me keep producing content on this blog.

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This article/review Copyright 2011-2012 Masai Inc.