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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Body Checks
Verdict: Jolly (Ice) Hockey Sticks - A Romantic Delight
London - The Actors Centre - January 03
Guildford - Mill Studio Yvonne Arnaud Theatre - 12-14 June 03
Here's an elegant delight of drama, edging in the direction of romance and comedy, well-written, performed with grace, a script with laughs and gentle, perceptive insight into the nature of love.
Three young Essex lads are in love with an Essex girl and someone else. Steve Burton (Richard Costello), son of an ailing butcher, wouldn't half mind shagging gorgeous pysio Mary Walsh (Kerry Skinner), as would intellectual Mike Childs (Nathan Rimmel). Two things stand in their way (a) Terry Cane (Darren Cheek), who reminds them they and Mary were all at school together so strictly speaking she's a mate rather than potential bonk-fodder, (b) the fact that all three boys are also in love with an older man, Dan Chorneyko (Stewart Alexander).
What? Uphill gardening in Essex? Fudge-packing in Romford's Rough Trading Estate? No, it's a different kind of love. Anyone for hockey?
Not the vapid Roedean version (though anyone who's played school-girl hockey and lived to tell the tale will know the full cruelty of their game), but Canadian Ice Hockey, the manly equivalent where men hug a lot and fantasise about the physio. It's territory previously indicated by Lou Reed's 'Coney Island Baby', a story of devotion to the footbally coach, here brought to stage reality in Stewart Alexander's remarkable new play.
Gentle giant (though he may have killed a man) Duke's secret fear is what he'll do next season, now he's too old even to coach hockey. Physio Mary Walsh finds herself drawn to him in an increasingly non-professional way - though both at first lack a common vocabulary to make their feelings known.
Steve's bravado masks increasing despair about his father's failing health. He's short of a vocabulary too, a gentle soul inside an East-End barrow-boy's body. And he'd love to play great hockey. Mike's brainy achievements have shifted him a class away from his old schoolmates. He's conniving too - aiming to prise a wedge between Duke and Mary because he wants her for himself. Terry's a reflective friend to both, and to all - a quiet (though vocal when needed) presence of good in a variable world.
The engines of Stewart Alexander's play are the ambitions of three Romford lads, desperate to escape the predictability of their futures; and the redemptive power of love. His witty, profound and intelligent writing bring these two strands together in a compulsive piece of theatre.
Kerry Skinner delivers a blissful performance as Mary Walsh. Her role is pivotal to the production, and she grasps and runs with it, delighting in every scene. Her Mary switches adroitly from disciplining her errant players to teaching stumbling Duke the correct language for the naming of parts in love and its making. It's a powerful, sensitive performance, with humour and - at the play's climax - a superb understanding of pathos and its consequent resolution.
Stewart Alexander delivers a towering, in all senses, performance as the hugely charismatic Duke Chorneyko. His Duke is big, powerful, gentle, and in all ways loveable. He brings the character from a man stumbling with his emotions to one who understands love, and the strength it possesses to transform.
Darren Cheek delivers a Terry full of humour and perception. His Terry flits among the action like an angel or good fairy, sprinkling a touch of stardust where needed, and delivering a short practical sermon where only words will do. His direct relationship with The Big Man (the other one in the clouds, rather than Duke) is illustrated too, in a pivotal and delightfully moving scene.
Nathan Rimmel is excellent as goalie Mike. In his hands Mike's a consummate schemer, a devious cad ready to manipulate, gossip and deal in whatever way will suit his sexual ambitions. There's a strand of good in the character too (illustative of Alexander's fully-rounded writing), and Rimmel's skilful interweaving of Mike's conflicting drives are delivered with skill and subtlety.
Richard Costello's delivery of Steve 'The Butcher' Burton is a performance of excellence. It's a well-written, complex part, and Richard Costello's portrayal shows his understanding of this. He presents a Steve of three dimensions, a living breathing butcher's boy with a profound and reflective soul. His Steve is a remarkable and gifted portrayal - an endearing character with a rich, generous and transcendent humanity.
Credits: Cast (alpha order):
Stewart Alexander, Darren Cheek, Richard Costello, Nathan Rimmel, Kerry Skinner. Writer - Stewart Alexander. Director - Nicholas Deal.
END
John Park
reviewed 21 January 03 / The Actors Centre
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
