Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Festival is currently in full swing and I'm not there. I could go, but I've already missed half of it.

Last summer, I was lucky enough to be cast in two plays performed there. Being there the whole month was a great experience. A strange bubble exists in Edinburgh in August and I found myself daily bumping into friends from London I hadn't seen for ages on the Royal Mile. I was more than a little spoilt by the experience and now I don't think I could go as a punter.

It was fantastic, a whole month of alternating between the two shows, flyering, postering (see above) and more theatre than you could hope to see in a lifetime. If you haven't been, go.

The Poisoner's Tale, written by Natalie Wakelin, follows a dinner party conversation between four friends. Four friends who probably should not be friends. I played D.

Melanie Boyce's The White Rose concerns the true story of a group of Munich students who ran a campaign calling for active opposition to the Nazis during World War II. I played Hans Scholl. As The White Rose is on the cusp of being remounted, it seemed like a good time to take a look at the reviews.


Since The Scotsman chose to review both shows together I've posted it separately:

The Scotsman
Reviewer: Jay Richardson
14 August 2008

THE WHITE ROSE
***

THE POISONER'S TALE
**

HERE are two plays performed on alternate days, linked by the same cast, the spread of ideas, and the application of free will. The White Rose is the more conventional, though aspects of the word association games played in its counterpart connect them. It's an account of the Munich philosophy students who opposed the Nazi regime with an anonymous leafleting campaign, and shows how the four struggled to weigh their consciences against the fatal consequences of the Gestapo discovering them. Alex is fired up for action, but family man Christoph counsels caution, even as Hans argues in vain to dismiss his sister Sophie from their inner circle. Caught between a fascist state and their principles, The White Rose's choice is no choice at all – recant their beliefs or die. Yet they retain a sense of purpose envied by their parallels in The Poisoner's Tale.

At a tense dinner party, B, C and D dispute the best approach for handling their host, A, prone to nihilism since the collapse of his relationship. C raises The White Rose's example and asks whether any of them would lay their lives down for a cause. Probably not is the implication, as A's brutal self-analysis begins to infect them all, forcing them to confront their trivial existences. But, while The White Rose derives authority from historical events and the sacrifice of its protagonists, the script of The Poisoner's Tale never convinces that the superficiality resides wholly in its characters. The abiding message is that the freedom to choose may be fraught, but get a grip, people have died for it.

Deceptions - Last Night

After seventy-four performances in nine venues over ten weeks and using eighty bags of salad, fifteen bottles of ginger ale, ten litres of apple juice and three boxes of chewing gum: tonight is the last night of the Deceptions tour.

Deceptions - Malvern

Deceptions is now at its final venue: Malvern Theatre(s) from Monday the 10th August to Saturday the 15th of August.



Evening performances Monday to Saturday at 8.00pm
Matinee performances Wednesday and Saturday at 2.30pm

Malvern Theatre,
Grange Road,
Malvern,
Worcestershire,
WR14 3HB

Box Office: 01684 892277
http://www.malvern-theatres.co.uk/

Deceptions - Receptions 5

GAZETTE
Reviewer: Lynne Milford
June 2009



What A Tangled Web These Actors Weave
Never has a name been more suited to a play. At the outset of Deceptions, the action starts with psychiatrist Julia Smythe (Michelle Collins) holding a session with a client, who gives his name as Adrian Wainwright (Rupert Hill).

The audience is quickly drawn into the first scene, which is full of humour and mild sexual innuendo - perhaps not suitable for the easily offended.

But the play soon takes a darker turn and the deceptions become more and more elaborate.
I half-spotted part of the ending, but I was delighted to find I was completely wrong about the final deception.

It was a fantastic play with some superb acting by both leads - my friend was amazed they managed to carry the whole play with only the two of them.

Wednesday’s performance was the first in a national tour, but was almost seamless and clearly very well rehearsed.

The few slips that happened seemed to be part of normal conversation and didn’t draw the audience’s attention.

Both actors certainly proved their worth in performing comedy and the slightly darker, more dramatic scenes in the play.

My friend and I were delighted with the glimpse of Rupert Hill’s naked buttocks and were disappointed they didn’t reappear later in the play.

All in all, a great performance of a very well written and thought out play - my friend summed it up perfectly with the words “a good night out”



NORWICH EVENING NEWS
Reviewer: Sarah Hardy
14th July 2009

If you like a twisting and turning bit of drama this is for you. I wasn’t too sure what was going on at times (no surprise there, I know!) but the plot did weave itself round and round as the two central characters tried to outwit each other.

This great little drama sees analyst Julia Smythe, convincingly played by Michelle Collins, who you’ll remember from telly’s EastEnders as scarlet woman Cindy Beale, who receives an interesting client played by Rupert Hill, who was recently Danny (sic) Baldwin in Coronation Street.

He had an axe to grind and she had to sort him out that’s about all I can reveal. You certainly won’t guess how it all turns out, but there’s also an older women, younger guy thing going on to (sic). And that’s before I mention bare bums!

It’s always interesting to see soap stars in action in a “real” piece as you do wonder - can they actually act then? And the answer here, thankfully, is yes. Two hander plays are tough going as there’s nowhere for anyone to hide, but the pair keep the suspense and credibility going right to the end.

The play is written by Paul Wheeler who mainly writes for TV, and this, perhaps, shows. It would certainly sit well on the small screen where you could make more of the tension and the inner turmoil and confusion experienced by the duo.



WEST BRITON
Reviewer: Mike Jarvis
28th July 2009

A Polished Performance Which Captivates To End
WHAT do you get when two of the UK's most popular television stars come together on stage?

Answer – a composed, polished performance that leaves you captivated until the very end.

Deceptions, starring former Eastenders' baddie Michelle Collins (who played Cindy Beale for 12 years) and Rupert Hill (best known for his role as Jamie Baldwin in Coronation Street) runs at the Hall for Cornwall until August 1.

The play is described as a "thriller" – but for me the words 'tense' and 'comedy' are a more appropriate description.

Starring only two characters, Deceptions focuses on the lives of psychiatrist Julia Smythe (Michelle Collins) and compulsive liar Adrian Wainwright (Rupert Hill).

The stylish Miss Smythe is left baffled when a young man walks into her office and feeds her extravagant lies about his personal and family life, seemingly for a bit of fun.

But as the two characters become engrossed in each other's lives, they continue their battle of wills – toying for the upper hand in a game of cat and mouse.

However, it soon becomes apparent that these two have far more skeletons in their cupboards than you would ever have believed.

It all comes together in a scintillating ending that left many audience members on their feet.

Rupert Hill is brilliant as the spoilt brat of a rich-kid family and Michelle Collins is every inch the sophisticated professional who we are meant to believe – with a weakness and a past she would rather forget.

Deceptions - Windsor

Deceptions has reached the Theatre Royal Windsor from Monday the 3rd August to Saturday the 8th of August.

Evening performances Monday to Saturday at 8.00pm
Matinee performances Thursday at 2.30pm and Saturday at 4.45pm


Theatre Royal Windsor,
Thames Street,
Windsor,
SL4 1PS

Box Office: 01753 853888
http://www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk/

Deceptions - Receptions 4

EAST ANGLIAN DAILY TIMES
Reviewer: David Henshall
11th June 2009

A Gripping Tale Full Of Deception
Don’t be deceived. The first act of this play lulls you into a false sense of thinking you are not going to like it. The situations are not comfortable and the characters don’t really fill you with confidence at this stage.

The conversations between Julia Smythe and Adrian Wainwright seem contrived. She is the psychoanalyst he has come to consult; he’s impotent, so he says. But, at the end of the day, that’s not what it’s all about.

It’s a story with a great twist in the tail as the pair meet again, and again - not always in her office. He insinuates his way into her life in the most extraordinary fashion and we wonder what he is up to.

On the other hand maybe it’s Julia who has something to prove or hide. The story takes us back and forth and we are never quite sure who is telling the truth. In the end we discover that both are adept at spouting lies, or at least at not telling the complete truth.

I’m not sure that the denouement is quite as successful as it ought to be because, for me, the author signals the answer to the mystery a little too early in the second act. On the other hand it was clear that a lot of people were pleasantly surprised by how things worked out.

The play is a two-hander and quite a tour de force for Michelle Collins who spent 10 years in EastEnders and Rupert Hill from Coronation Street and several other soaps. This is the first night of the tour and both are word perfect in parts that are long, involved and full of tricky changes of mood.

I would have chosen different music. It is loud, unintelligible and detracts from what is otherwise a tale that looks as though it might not make it, but that grips tightly in the end.



THE ARGUS
Reviewer: Mary Kalmus
30th June 2009

“Everything you say is relevant,” says psychiatrist Julia Smythe (Michelle Collins) as she settles new client Adrian Wainwright (Rupert Hill) into the couch in her sterile-looking office.

It may be relevant, but not everything is as it seems in Paul Wheeler’s tricksy two-hander featuring a patient – with what at first seems merely a case of extreme facetiousness – and his middle-aged analyst.

Playing a professional is never easy, but at first Michelle Collins’ over-eggs it somewhat, adopting a strange, Tannoy-like voice and affecting some strange body language. However, she tones it down to a much more human level by the second half, getting into her swing as the plot revs into action.

Rupert Hill’s patient is a man on a mission, setting out to discredit the psychologist in ways that only a student could dream up – interpreting his obsession with figs as heterosexual desire (oh, how subtle) and cravings for bananas as homosexual lust.

Once you’ve twigged the fact he’s playing a part within a part, you can’t help but admire Hill’s comic timing as he winds up his quarry to fever pitch and calls her profession into question. She, meanwhile, is baffled as to why he should be so intent on bringing her down. As a psychiatrist, she feels she comes across as pretty candid, never promising to cure any of her clients, only to show them how to help themselves to feel better.

The second half is far meatier than the first, taking place in Adrian’s sordid flat and allowing Michelle Collins the chance to move around and show what she is made of. And she pulls it off admirably, changing smoothly from stiff suit to soft and soulful as love creeps up on her unawares.

But it is the final 20 minutes which hold the key to the title, throwing up some true surprises and moving this production from slightly mediocre to memorable.



METRO
Reviewer: Rebecca Blunt
23rd July 2009

****
Former soap actors Michelle Collins and Rupert Hill make deft work of Paul Wheeler’s two-hander, which delves into the theories and effects of therapy.

Collins is psychiatrist Julia Smythe, whose notion of client confidence is turned on its head when the enigmatic Adrian Wainwright (Hill) struts into her consulting room. Played out to a brooding soundtrack and framed by a prison-like set, the pair tussle through a catalogue of truths and lies in a bid for intellectual victory.

Under Joe Harmston’s direction, Deceptions - which contains adult material - confronts, intrigues and entertains. It does ask its audience to suspend a certain amount of disbelief, namely when Julia spits some unlikely language at Adrian, and when she later goes alone to his flat. Fortunately, compelling acting propels us beyond these improbabilities.

Collins stumbles over a couple of early lines but otherwise pinpoints the contradictory assertiveness and vulnerability of a modern woman. Hill is superb, flipping from menacing intensity to jaunty humour in a breath.

Deceptions hinges on a clever twist, and Collins and Hill skilfully keep us guessing as to who is the cat and who is the mouse?

Deceptions - Truro

Deceptions is at the Hall For Cornwall in Truro from Monday the 27th July to Saturday the 1st of August.


Performances Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm

Hall for Cornwall,
Back Quay,
Truro,
TR1 2LL

Box Office: 01872 262466
http://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/