Review
Blue Remembered Hills
by Paul Taylor
Folk taking a stroll in Abbeyfield
Park during the second week of
May may have witnessed the strange
sight of adults running around
in shorts and pinafores shouting,
fighting, throwing stones and
generally behaving like a bunch
of seven-year olds – their
excuse was that they were performing
Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis
Potter.
Set in the summer of 1943, the
plot follows the experiences of
a group of children over the course
of an afternoon. Directed by Daniel
Poyser and Ian Smith (both involved
in last October’s successful
production of Oedipus at St Catherine’s
Hall), the production moved around
the park, building to the horrific
climax in Abbeyfield Stables.
The strong performances (particularly
by Craig Shepherd as Peter and
Mason Tyree as Donald Duck) soon
had the audience forgetting the
drizzle and engrossed in the plot;
by turns hilarious, upsetting
and shocking. All the actors threw
themselves into this very physical,
at times almost slapstick, performance
and were utterly believable as
children.
Panni Poh Yoke Loh (production
co-ordinator) said: “It’s
been a great experience to see
creative theatre in the Park.
I hope we can see more of it in
the future as part of the Abbeyfield
Stables Project.” If productions
are of this quality, we can only
hope that she’s right.
See
the Review on the Burngreave Messenger
Website
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