The Girl Green as Elderflower

The Girl Green as Elderflower
Adapted for the stage by Richard Davies from the novel by Randolph Stow. Lyrics and Music by Richard Davies. La Mama Courthouse, Carlton. 20 – 31 March 2019

The Girl Green as Elderflower by Randolph Snow may well be a delightful premise to create a piece of theatre from.  However in this play’s current form, as adapted from the novel by Richard Davies and directed by Sara Grenfell, it does not translate into a fully affective, thematic piece of theatre.   

A great bunch of performers, all with lovely voices, seem to waft in and out of the performance space to bring us various predominantly well-mannered, proper, characters and to sing their way through this dream like piece.  The over-all effect is a kind of hypnotic and flowing hallucinatory reverie with some moments of highlighted intensity.  I think I am right in assuming that this quality is a nod to Stow’s delicate state of mind and use of medication and self-medication.

This very interesting, yet vague, production feels like a work in progress.  It needs a stronger hand in relation to how it is staged to fully satisfy.  As it is, the lighting and staging and general ambiance does not adequately support the performances.  A lovely floor with a charming design is the basic nod to a set.  And the back wall of the Courthouse, a vast space, is sometimes used with light to good effect.  Perhaps the budget would not stretch far enough to fully support the work in the Courthouse and it would have been better suited to a staging in the tiny, desperately missed La Mama.

The songs and music by Richard Davies are splendid and with the support of the pianist, enchantingly presented. But sadly the rhythms of the whole seem to get sucked into the vortex of the beguiling music.  Possibly it is the intent of adaptor Richard Davies and director Sara Grenfell to affirm a dreamlike quality throughout.   However it renders the whole insipid and sends some audience members to sleep.  This malaise needs to be countered through the visual in order to keep the audience alert, engaged and challenged throughout.  Surely with the aid of clever lighting and imagery the strange mental state of the main protagonist would be more fully and engagingly realized.

It is happily worth seeing for its marvelous potential, as a vehicle for the lovely work of Richard Davies as composer and for the solid performances from all actor/singers.

Suzanne Sandow

Image: Jodie Hutchinson

Credits

Director -  Sara Grenfell

Musical Director - Shelley Dunlop

Designer - Christina Logan-Bell

Cast includes:  Alice Albon, Nick Bell, Chloe Bruer- Jones, Christopher Coleman, Louise Cummings, Liam Dobbs, Giordano Gangl, Helen Hopkins, Tori Mccann and Billy Sloane

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