At RWCMD |
| Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama- Hitchcock Blonde , Chapter Cartdiff , December 16, 2010 |
This is a fascinating and complex play interweaving three stories that all involve the legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, who had a well known affinity for blondes. The 1999 plot line follows a lecturer and his student uncovering lost Hitchcock footage from an unknown 1919 film in a Greek villa, the 1959 story finds Hitchcock himself as a character, working with Janet Leigh's body double on the movie "Psycho." The production captures the atmosphere of a Hitchcock film and the surreal quality of the story. We see many parallels and contrasts between the 1999 film lecturer and his cynical student and Hitchcock and his iconic blonde stand-in. The play is presented with the scenes shuffling between modern day Greece and the 1959 production of Psycho.The cast did a great job in bringing these characters to life for us but it looked to me that the director Bruce Guthrie had failed to get them to properly appreciate the humour that ran constantly below the surface of the dialogue. This and the staging difficulties that meant frequent scenery changes kept this longish play going on even longer. To their credit, although it took them a little while to get going the cast all produced well rounded and very convincing characters. Stephen Bisland as Alex paints an extremely convincing picture of a weary lecturer who appears to be more interested in 80 year old bits of film than anything else, though he does have an eye for his earnest student who resists him at first, then falls in love with him by which time his interest in her has completely dried up. Rebecca Scott eventually does a great job getting under the skin of the character and getting us to care about her, as she becomes absorbed in her lonely rejected state. Joanna Vanderham, her blonde alter ego back in 1959 not only looks stunningly attractive but perfectly hits the note as an up and coming young blonde bombshell. As Hitch, her rotund employer, Jack Brown does catch the feel of Hitchcock as he is remembered, but his performance was a little too contained and many opportunities for humour with the Hitchcock eccentricities were missed. Lewis Reeves had little to say which must have contributed to the quiet strength of his playing of the blonde’s put upon husband. Despite the distracting scene changing and the lack of humour the quality of the acting and the atmosphere they cast were able to create did bring a cinematic thrill to this absorbing story. |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
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