The Good Soul of Szechuan
The Good Soul of Szechuan
Library Theatre
November 3, 2009
MOST regular theatre-goers either like or dislike the works of German playwright Bertolt Brecht – few are ambivalent about his work.
Fortunately this new staging could easily change the minds of doubters, because Chris Honer’s imaginative production is given a contemporary twist with the help of David Harrower’s first rate translation.
The story is a simple one, narrated by Cornelius Macarthy, as Wang the water-seller who pushes a supermarket trolley around a corrugated iron set.
Reminiscent of the story of Noah, three gods, played by Natasha Bain, John Cummins and Olwen May, arrive on earth to discover if there are any good people left.
A kind-hearted prostitute, Shen Te, beautifully played by Poppy Miller (Gold-plated), offers them shelter, and with their reward opens a tobacco shop where her adventures begin.
Quality
An excellent ensemble of 15 actors play a plethora of characters, most notably Susan Twist as Mrs Shin, and Kieran Hill as Yang Sun, Shen Te’s suitor.
Knutsford’s Josh Moran, whose parents had their first date at the Library Theatre, has the dual roles of policeman and priest.
Tarek Merchant plays several musical instruments accompanying the challenging songs, and couple of schoolboys, Samuel Lenthall from Bury and Sol Hoffman from Huddersfield, take it in turns to play the child.
This production is exactly the kind of quality we associate with the Library Theatre.
For those patrons who complained about the amount of smoking on stage on a previous occasion, the director has devised a clever way of making it look like characters are smoking when they’re not.
How? You’ll have to go along to the Library Theatre to find out, and you may even surprise yourself by enjoying the play as well!
Until November 28, 2009.
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