The Tricycle Theatre's production of Moonlight and Magnolias is a feelgood play with a vengeance - maybe the cast wound themselves up for this final week, but this was exceptionally good. It's a play about the making of a film, but not just any film. It's Gone with the Wind, and the producer, David O Selznick (Andy Nyman) is having big problems. He sacks the director and calls in star writer Ben Hecht (Duncan Bell) to produce a new script.

But the script must be ready in five days - and writer Hecht hasn't read the book. It doesn't help that he and new director Victor Fleming (excellent Steven Pacey), who Selznick has lined up, have some history and clearly don't like each other. Josephine Butler plays Selznick's secretary, Miss Poppenghul. It doesn't help either that Selznick – to get things done before the whole production falls apart - decides to lock them into his office, providing them all with brain food (peanuts and bananas) for the five days. His plan is that he and Fleming are to act out the key scenes from the book while Hecht writes.

And that - gloriously - is what they do. Andy Nyman's Selznick pumps his blood pressure up second by second; the six-foot-two Steven Pacey's Fleming is goaded into some wonderful sub-Uncle-Tom's Cabin falsetto impressions of maltreated slave girls. Duncan Bell's Hecht wryly doubts everything, from the glorification of slavery and the old South to the character of the leading lady. The pace of the first act is full-on from the first line, and all four of the actors need to be on top form to cope with the relentless pace. It is not therefore too much of a surprise for act two to flag a little. It is a touch more meditative, but still very funny, and writer Ron Hutchinson leaves just enough in the tank for a big finale.

The serious sub-text of the play is about anti-Jewishness and political correctness, at a time when Nazi Germany is about to plunge the world into a terrifying struggle for civilised existence. This isn't overdone, but menace is at the back of the debate, making it more poignant. It's a great production, predicated on the madness and excitement that made classic Hollywood: big stars, overbearing producers, desperately ill-informed directors wanting beach scenes in Paris, writers who are all novelists manqués. Everyone chasing rainbows.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Duncan Bell - Ben Hecht. Josephine Butler - Miss Poppenghul. Andy Nyman - David O Selznick. Steven Pacey - Victor Fleming.

Company Credits: Writer - Ron Hutchinson. Director - Sean Holmes. Designer - Francis O'Connor. Lighting Designer - Davy Cunningham. Sound Designer - Carolyn Downing. Production Manager - Shaz McGee. Company Stage Manager - Helen Reynolds. Deputy Stage Manager - Emily Peake. Assistant Stage Manager - Brian Perkins. Costume - Estelle Butler. Dialect Coach - Penny Dyer. Fight Director - Terry King. Movement - Michael Ashcroft. Casting - Emma Style. Electrician - Darren Murray. Company - Tricycle Theatre. Artistic Director - Nicolas Kent. Marketing Director - Sarah O'Hanlon. General Manager - Mary Lauder. Website - www.tricycle.co.uk

END

(c) Michael Spring 2007

reviewed Wednesday 31 October 2007 / Tricycle

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com