RASHOMON REVIEW
Hornsey Journal 10th October, 1988
"SUPERB MYSTERY"
Jackson's Lane Theatre
Rashomon, a murder-mystery set in ancient Japan, was directed
and re-written from Akutagawa's original stories by Ivor Benjamin. Acted
by a superb cast, the dramatic effect was thrilling, the setting
satisfying and the adroit direction had many magnificent moments. Sound
effects of rain, thunder and demanding birds, with Julian Stocker's
atmospheric original music, made this an impressive performance.
The reconstruction of history seemed accurate, with the trial scenes
treated with dignity and restraint, yet holding the feeling of impending
tragedy. The acting was excellent by all the cast, with Leslie Wake as
The Mother, Sam Halpenny as The Bandit and Robert Conkie as The Priest
outstanding as their characterisations gradually developed. Barbara
Massey, Kristin Hutchinson, Frances Agnew, Julian Stocker and Paul
Butler also deserve mention, with the wonderful stage and lighting
design by Rod Birtles adding sensitively to the powerful feeling of
theatrical doom.
MUTANTS REVIEW
The Independent, 2nd September
1989
This may be the first science fiction play that really works. Ivor
Benjamin's script skilfully paces the shock of the narrative and his
direction brings out consistently solid ensemble work. The premise - the
quest to suppress a lethal designer drug - could come from any cyberpunk
novel, and the plot - which sends criminal agents into the Central London
Containment Zone - is pure John Carpenter: Mutants, though, is
an original. Karin Charlesworth as the sneering Ulsterwoman, Travis,
wanders through the urban junk dealing with Rasta software pirates,
street pedlars hawking now rare and prized condoms and everywhere
encountering the schizophrenic products of the drug. Scenes are
intercut, the narrative accelerates and becomes jerkier, increasing the
filmic impression of the piece as the full horror of the drug's viral
effect, and its inexorable progress, are unmasked piecemeal. The
developments of this show and its offshoots (a musical? a comic? computer
game?), like that of a virus, should be followed closely.
Ian Shuttleworth
MY CHILDREN! MY AFRICA!
REVIEW 1 - The Guardian, 8th October 1991
This Harrogate Theatre production is remarkable by any standard. It needs
to be seen by anyone who believes that the theatre can have something to
say about our present conditions.
Athol Fugard's 1989 play opens with an inter-school debate in a school
for poor blacks in South Africa's eastern province. Thami, a black
teenage boy, debates feminism with Isabel, a teenage girl from a white
middle class school. Isabel wins. Enthused by the success of the event,
the black teacher, Mr M, persuades the two of them to form a team in a
national schools quiz - he coaches them in English literature. But
political realities destroy this triangular relationship when Thami walks
out to join a schools boycott. The logic of the situation leads to an act
of horrifying violence.
At the heart of the play is a paradox. Mr M passionately needs to be a
teacher. But he can only be a teacher if he obeys South African laws and
offers a "Bantu" education. Ironically the "Bantu" education he offers
leads Thami to reject him in and his school.
Fugard's strength lies in the way he combines lucidity with passion.
There are some extraordinary moments. Thami and Isabel exchange questions
about English romantic poets as if they were playing a tennis match. Mr M
holds in his right hand the stone which has been thrown through a school
window and balances it against a book which he holds in his left hand.
The image makes concrete the central contradiction of the play.
Ivor Benjamin's direction is taut and precise; the acting, by Willie
Jonah as Mr M, Wilbert Johnson as Thami, and Faith Flint as Isabel, is
as lucid as the text. The Harrogate audience is lucky to be offered such
a rich entertainment.
Albert Hunt
MY CHILDREN! MY AFRICA!
REVIEW 2 - Yorkshire Post, October 1991
This, I suspect, will be one of those events to cause regional
theatregoers who miss it to kick themselves for a long time.Athol Fugard's play appeared two years ago in Johannesburg but this is its British rep premiere: an event in itself even if the work were not so moving - intellectually and emotionally. Quite an odd sort of work in its way, it is impelled by a civilised belief in the power of the word, of rational argument, to say something worthwhile about the human condition. And it has the feeling of truth: not truth as clear-cut message but as realistically messy and complex, admitting a relativeness based on the observer's viewpoint.
So it offers pictures of black township disturbances through the eyes of an elderly black teacher, his star pupil and a white schoolgirl: one's sympathies may lean to any of them but it is impossible, finally, not to feel that the truth is a compound, contradictions and all, of the three. If this sounds wordy it is a wordiness which leads through passion (though the sole violent act is offstage, tellingly reported) to a harrowing but cathartic intensity.
Director Ivor Benjamin, with something substantial to work on, is rewarded with superb playing. Wilbert Johnson's striking Thami is an uneasy mix of resentment and justified pride, progressing to sureness of purpose; Faith Flint swings touchingly on the adolescent pendulum between over-confidence and lostness. Willie Jonah's veteran teacher consummately walks the line between stubborn self-awareness and the eagerness to please of the colonised.
Bob Keogh
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