Worthy homage to silver screen classic

The world premiere of The Artist took place at Theatre Royal Plymouth on Monday evening. Andy Phillips was among those in the audience to see Drew McOnie's stage version of the Oscar-winning film

- Andy Phillips

TUMULTUOUS change brought on by technology. A devastating financial crash. A challenge to adapt to survive. It all sounds so eerily familiar, and yet the elements that drive The Artist are drawn from a century ago.

For silent movie star George Valentin (Robbie Fairchild), it all seems to happen so fast. The advent of 'the Talkies' is the death knell for his career as he knows it, the sound, quite literally, of his life crashing down in front of him.

George sees the pretty young dancer Peppy Miller (Briana Craig) - to whom he had offered a hand-up - end up replacing him as the new darling of Hollywoodland, as it was then.

It is these emotional elements which make The Artist far more than an adaptation of a movie which was set in the 1920s.

Director Drew McOnie draws on a huge range of creative tools to make the story swell in your chest and buzz inside your head.

The creative mantra of 'show don't tell' was never more closely regarded, as George finds he has no voice anymore, both figuratively and literally.