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Wednesday, May 28,2008
London
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A Prurient Gaze
Theater Review
Alexander
Bednall stars as the troubled title character—a young man with a dark past who
has come to rent a room from a woman named Kath (Shannon Sloan-Spice.) Kath’s
flirtatious nature is charming enough, but Sloane also has to deal with Kath’s
abusive brother Ed (Karl Miller) and her aging father (David Roper) who may
know something about his past.
The
failure of the comedy would make this production almost entirely unpleasant
were it not for the fact that the cast delivers the heated drama of the play as
impressively as it does. Bednall delivers anger and spite in thoroughly
entertaining form. There’s a kind of hunger in his demeanor that’s interesting
to watch. His restless frustration isn’t bad, either. Miller doesn’t cut an
imposing enough figure to seem truly threatening in the role of Ed, but what he
lacks in ferocity he makes up for in sheer seediness. Orton casts Kath and her
father in some pretty unflattering light, but Roper and Sloan-Spice manage to
render a profound amount of dignity in very human performances.
Without
a sophisticated delivery of Orton’s humor, Mr.
Sloane has the unpleasant distinction of feeling like watching people yell
at each other for two hours. The cast holds up remarkably well, however. The
performances are compelling enough to hold the audience’s attention even if the
characters aren’t entirely pleasant.
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