Entertainment

Theatre Review: Amy’s View

Presented by Stirling Players

Reviewed 1 April 2022

This year Stirling Players are celebrating 50 years of producing top quality entertainment for Adelaide audiences. Their latest production, Sir David Hare’s Amy’s View, has to be high up amongst their best. It is not only well written, but tightly and intelligently directed by Tim Williams and Jan Farr, with fine, and in some cases, exemplary performances from all the cast.

Taking place over sixteen years (1979 – 1995), Hare’s play is basically a treatise on theatre versus media (i.e. film and television), with touches of loss, love and relationships thrown in for good measure. All characters are multi-faceted, with some being nicer to like than others (but not all the time).

It is a wordy play (as Hare’s tend to be) and could easily bore – but this production DOESN”T! It is here that the skill of directors Williams and Farr shows through. Where a wordy play can become incredibly stilted in movement and style, these directors have given us just the right amount of movement and stage business (not too little, not too much) – trust me, this is not an easy thing to achieve. They also make sure that they get the very best out of their cast.

Amy’s view is very simple and incredibly naïve – if we give love to all, we will get love back: a nice theory, if only it were so. Rose Harvey makes Amy, despite her innocent theory, very real. She plays Amy with a strength that proves that, regardless of her naivety, she can be a force to be reckoned with – a very believable performance.

Jill Morrell plays an ageing grandmother beautifully. Her scene where she is incapacitated in a wheel chair is a master class in how to stay still, not uttering a word (except the occasional groan) and still be very much a part of the scene. As financial advisor/friend and wannabe partner to the lead character Esme, Steve Marvanek is a glorious conglomerate of many great British character actors who are renown for playing ever so distinguished gentlemen – wonderfully clipped English accent and soft without being wimpy. Only appearing on stage for the last ten or so minutes of the play, Jackson Barnard needs to make his presence felt and his character instantly recognisable – which he does in spades. From the moment we see him standing in the doorway of Esme’s dressing room, we know that he is the eager, enthusiastic young actor straight out of RADA. He is the all-round nice guy and Barnard’s performance leaves us in no doubt of that.

Deserving special mention are actors Simon Barnett and Joanne St Clair. In a cast full of finely honed performers, it is these two who impress the most. Barnett impresses with the very difficult character of Amy’s partner Dominic, a young student of film (representing one half of the main debate). With every appearance Barnett makes, he has the physical and emotional pitch of the character, at any given moment in time, spot on. His vocal nuances, in particular, are very impressive.

Representing the theatrical side of the main debate is West End actress Esme Allen (Amy’s mother) – a role that has been played by both Judi Dench and Felicity Kendal. St Clair honours both of these ladies with her excellent performance. This is probably the wordiest of the roles – whenever Esme opens her mouth a monologue tends to roll out – and St Clair just keeps the audience spellbound. Although Esme is incredibly self-centered, St Clair makes us feel for her at the correct times. She has the character so down pat, that we find it hard to work out if the character is deliberately manipulating the others or just speaking without thinking.

This production is one where all the parts make a magnificent whole. It certainly deserves bigger audiences than the thirty who were there the night this reviewer was. There are only two more performances left, so make sure that you see a perfect example of why Stirling Players have survived for fifty years – may they continue for many more!

Reviewed by Brian Godfrey

Venue: Stirling Community Theatre

Season: Until 9 April 2022

Duration: approx 2hrs 20 mins including interval

Bookings: https://www.stirlingplayers.sct.org.au/purchase-tickets

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