A star-studded and haunting play on the theme of good and evil impresses
ARE good and evil interdependent? What, anyway, do we mean by the word ‘evil’? And is it any help in analysing dangerous criminals? These are big issues that recur in two connected, yet entirely disparate, pieces of theatre.
One is a revival of Bryony Lavery’s 1998 play Frozen at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket; the other is Miss Lavery’s new version of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, which is touring the country. Both are impressive, but, if I preferred the former, it’s because I enjoy original plays far more than novel adaptations.
Frozen is haunting precisely because it challenges our assumptions. It starts with intercut monologues from Nancy, a mother grieving over the abduction of her 10-year-old daughter, Rhona, Ralph, a serial killer responsible for Rhona’s death, and Agnetha, a psychologist who comes from America to deliver a lecture on the criminal mind and to make a study of the imprisoned Ralph.
Having introduced the characters separately, Miss Lavery then shows their interaction: it’s that which makes the story intensely dramatic and takes it away from the expression of a solo viewpoint, such as in another acclaimed recent show, Girls & Boys at the Royal Court.
Denne historien er fra March 07, 2018-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra March 07, 2018-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
