Kvetch
by Steven Berkoff
Directed by Pat Grosse
May 4th - 11th, 2002
The Tower Theatre Company performing at the Tower Theatre, Canonbury
Cast List
Donna : Meryl Griffiths
Frank : Colin Dent
Hal : Iain Dootson
Mother-in-law : Annette Michaels
George : Roger Beaumont
Production Team
Director : Pat Grosse
Set Designer : John McSpadyen
Lighting Designer : Dave Beattie
Costume Designer : Lea Tunesi
Sound Designer : Simon Humphries
Stage Manager : Steven Hyndman
ASMs : Andrew Craze, Chris Streeks, Kate Llewellyn
Lighting operator : Cathy Thomas
Sound operator : Simon Kane
Wardrobe : Lea Tunesi
Set construction : Keith Syrett, Robert Myer,
John McSpadyen, Lea Tunesi, Margaret Hyndman, Chris Streeks, Roger Beaumont,
Meryl Griffiths, Cathy Thomas, Tsvatko Peneu, Jackie Austin, Terry Mathews, Rebecca Vincent
Review by Marion Cotter
Marion is a publisher and theatre reviewer
for www.coventgardenlife.com
Billed by author Stephen Berkoff as "a play about anxiety", Kvetch examines the
inner demons that gnaw away inside us all - whether it's fear of impotence, fear
of holding a dinner party or fear of telling jokes.
"This play is dedicated to the afraid," says Berkoff. And his needle-sharp script
sets out to show that the dialogue going on in the back of our head (the nagging
"kvetch" that keeps us awake at night) is in fact truer than the one at the front.
Berkoff believes we are all like icebergs - seldom, if ever, showing what lies
beneath the surface as we move through life. Kvetch lifts the lid and demonstrates
in graphic detail just what goes on beneath the waterline. He brutally bares the
souls of his characters with an inside/outside dialogue that shows the often
glaring conflict between our angst-ridden inner self and our seemingly polished
public persona.
Berkoff has always been more cult than mainstream. His plays crackle with pent-up
energy while his dialogue - rife with sexual allusions - bristles with the kind of
language you wouldn't expect to hear before TV's 9pm watershed. His highly stylised
work is also big on mime, masks and body movement.
Berkoff is not, however, big on stage directions. On the upside, this provides
immense artistic freedom - and a good director will rise to the challenge and leave
their own artistic footprint on the production. Those not up to the task will
simply flounder.
Pat Grosse's highly intuitive direction was both skilful and assured, strong on
pace and punch, while showing an impeccable grasp of the play's theme. Actors
need to have total confidence in their director to convincingly carry off the
often uninhibited language and action in a work of this kind, and the result
was spot-on. The production showed both creativity and discipline, eliciting
raucous laughter from a lively audience which included a large school party of
teenagers who giggled furiously at every ribald reference.
Berkoff's "freeze-frame" style - whereby the action is frozen in mid-air while
individual characters bare their inner thoughts - was perfectly captured throughout.
Two scenes were particularly well directed: Hal's dinner party piece, when he
debates endlessly whether his guests should dine in the kitchen or the living room
(the torment is soon so great that he cannot contemplate either) and the scene
in the second half when each of the characters dons a mask, then speaks to
camera, voicing their innermost fears.
Kvetch probes the lives of a suburban Jewish married couple who
eventually come to see that their life together is a shallow sham. In an ironic
twist, the play ends as they both agree to stop kvetching and start their lives
over again - with the husband now in a gay relationship. The script is steeped
in Jewish references, so much that the programme even had a Yiddish glossary.
Each of the three main characters was impeccably cast. Frank - the cloth salesman
husband who is desperate to impress - was brilliantly played by Colin Dent.
Perfect in looks and gait, he had just the right style and bullish upfront
delivery for Berkoff's outspoken dialogue, spitting out expletives and cursing
his vapid mother-in-law with venom while revealing one of his life's biggest fears -
telling jokes. I was particularly impressed with his speech at the opening of Act 2.
Meryl Griffiths was excellent as Frank's wife Donna, bringing to mind the
formidable Alison Steadman in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.
Her fears and frustrations - sad, and yet howlingly funny - set the tone for
the play in Act 1, while her graphic sexual fantasy with the dustmen as she
dreams about the sex life she doesn't have, was a show-stopper.
My only gripe was that such a seemingly attractive woman's day apparently
revolves around getting her husband's dinner on the table on time - a curiously
dated facet of this play, written in the 80s.
Hal, the interloper, was captured to a T by Iain Dootson. Hal is a bit of a nerd;
a nondescript whose presence serves to highlight what is going on between the
other characters. Here was an actor who used his whole body and face to marvellous
effect, with just the right mix of braying laugh and berk-ish remarks for the part.
His long speech about the imaginary dinner party (which we all know he will never
hold) showcased his comic talents brilliantly. He followed this up with a terrific
cameo as an Italian waiter who is itching to go home as two lovebirds come into
the restaurant late at night and can't decide what to order.
Frank's down-at-heel mother in law was nicely played by Annette Michaels. This
was not an easy part, as she is much talked about on stage while actually speaking
little. Roger Beaumont played George - the businessman who is key to exposing the
shortcomings of Frank and Donna's marriage - to good effect, mulling over not
only his own unhappy marriage but misgivings about his virility.
The play's lack of scenery and visual distractions was another Berkoff hallmark.
John McSpadyen's set was simple yet effective, and I particularly liked the large
Lowry-style painting on the rear wall. Lighting was by Dave Beattie and sound by
Simon Humphries. Costumes by Lea Tunesi were excellent.
Kvetch
by Steven Berkoff |
|
May 4th - 11th, 2002 |
The Tower Theatre Company performing at the Tower Theatre, Canonbury |
Cast List
|
Production Team
|
Review by Marion Cotter
Marion is a publisher and theatre reviewer for www.coventgardenlife.com
Billed by author Stephen Berkoff as "a play about anxiety", Kvetch examines the
inner demons that gnaw away inside us all - whether it's fear of impotence, fear
of holding a dinner party or fear of telling jokes.
"This play is dedicated to the afraid," says Berkoff. And his needle-sharp script
sets out to show that the dialogue going on in the back of our head (the nagging
"kvetch" that keeps us awake at night) is in fact truer than the one at the front.
Berkoff believes we are all like icebergs - seldom, if ever, showing what lies
beneath the surface as we move through life. Kvetch lifts the lid and demonstrates
in graphic detail just what goes on beneath the waterline. He brutally bares the
souls of his characters with an inside/outside dialogue that shows the often
glaring conflict between our angst-ridden inner self and our seemingly polished
public persona.
Berkoff has always been more cult than mainstream. His plays crackle with pent-up
energy while his dialogue - rife with sexual allusions - bristles with the kind of
language you wouldn't expect to hear before TV's 9pm watershed. His highly stylised
work is also big on mime, masks and body movement.
Berkoff is not, however, big on stage directions. On the upside, this provides
immense artistic freedom - and a good director will rise to the challenge and leave
their own artistic footprint on the production. Those not up to the task will
simply flounder.
Pat Grosse's highly intuitive direction was both skilful and assured, strong on
pace and punch, while showing an impeccable grasp of the play's theme. Actors
need to have total confidence in their director to convincingly carry off the
often uninhibited language and action in a work of this kind, and the result
was spot-on. The production showed both creativity and discipline, eliciting
raucous laughter from a lively audience which included a large school party of
teenagers who giggled furiously at every ribald reference.
Berkoff's "freeze-frame" style - whereby the action is frozen in mid-air while
individual characters bare their inner thoughts - was perfectly captured throughout.
Two scenes were particularly well directed: Hal's dinner party piece, when he
debates endlessly whether his guests should dine in the kitchen or the living room
(the torment is soon so great that he cannot contemplate either) and the scene
in the second half when each of the characters dons a mask, then speaks to
camera, voicing their innermost fears.
Kvetch probes the lives of a suburban Jewish married couple who
eventually come to see that their life together is a shallow sham. In an ironic
twist, the play ends as they both agree to stop kvetching and start their lives
over again - with the husband now in a gay relationship. The script is steeped
in Jewish references, so much that the programme even had a Yiddish glossary.
Each of the three main characters was impeccably cast. Frank - the cloth salesman
husband who is desperate to impress - was brilliantly played by Colin Dent.
Perfect in looks and gait, he had just the right style and bullish upfront
delivery for Berkoff's outspoken dialogue, spitting out expletives and cursing
his vapid mother-in-law with venom while revealing one of his life's biggest fears -
telling jokes. I was particularly impressed with his speech at the opening of Act 2.
Meryl Griffiths was excellent as Frank's wife Donna, bringing to mind the
formidable Alison Steadman in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.
Her fears and frustrations - sad, and yet howlingly funny - set the tone for
the play in Act 1, while her graphic sexual fantasy with the dustmen as she
dreams about the sex life she doesn't have, was a show-stopper.
My only gripe was that such a seemingly attractive woman's day apparently
revolves around getting her husband's dinner on the table on time - a curiously
dated facet of this play, written in the 80s.
Hal, the interloper, was captured to a T by Iain Dootson. Hal is a bit of a nerd;
a nondescript whose presence serves to highlight what is going on between the
other characters. Here was an actor who used his whole body and face to marvellous
effect, with just the right mix of braying laugh and berk-ish remarks for the part.
His long speech about the imaginary dinner party (which we all know he will never
hold) showcased his comic talents brilliantly. He followed this up with a terrific
cameo as an Italian waiter who is itching to go home as two lovebirds come into
the restaurant late at night and can't decide what to order.
Frank's down-at-heel mother in law was nicely played by Annette Michaels. This
was not an easy part, as she is much talked about on stage while actually speaking
little. Roger Beaumont played George - the businessman who is key to exposing the
shortcomings of Frank and Donna's marriage - to good effect, mulling over not
only his own unhappy marriage but misgivings about his virility.
The play's lack of scenery and visual distractions was another Berkoff hallmark.
John McSpadyen's set was simple yet effective, and I particularly liked the large
Lowry-style painting on the rear wall. Lighting was by Dave Beattie and sound by
Simon Humphries. Costumes by Lea Tunesi were excellent.