Entertaining Mr Sloane

Director James Weisz, working with the same company as Beckett’s End Game, once again pulls off a success. Orton suffers from being a dead icon and is usually treated with much reverence, and perhaps this holds back any chance to shift the play in time, which personally I think is an opportunity missed. Despite that personal misgiving, the evening rolls along with the uncomfortably dark but poetic Orton dialogue as powerful as ever in the hands of this talented company.

Mike Goodenough delivers a disquietingly believable and almost likeable Eddy, Duncan Drury a cruelly manipulative Sloane, and Rory McCallum is wonderful as the Da. The least enviable task is taking on the memory of Beryl Reid in the role of Kath, as revered as Orton himself. Bridget Mastrocolo does a good job of making the part her own, although at times her vocal tone falters and the simple-minded sluttishness disappears, cutting down the impact of her portrayal of this oddly frumpish yet childlike sexual predator. Gary Blair again provides great set and costumes that all go to confirm that Emporium are committed to producing work of a very high professional standard.

Emporium, 14 June 2014

Rating: