ANOTHER delightful evening courtesy of Malvern Theatre’s Young Company left me grateful for the experience – and pining for the return of auditoriums full of patrons without masks and an interval drink at the bar to look forward to.
All the more credit to the company of two – Rhys Harris-Clarke and Moa Myerson – who each gave us an engrossing 45 minutes with their superb performances of perhaps Alan Bennett’s two best known monologues – ‘A Chip in the Sugar’ and ‘Big Chance’.
Harris-Clarke took on the role of Graham Whittaker – the devoted son who has a chip on his shoulder bigger than the one he finds in the sugar, in the piece of the same name. He captured the resentment Whittaker feels at his mother taking up with an old beau perfectly. It is a clever, distanced performance with a delicate balance of pathos and seediness.
Myerson is delightful as the naïve, wannabe actress Lesley who is used by all and yet too her glass remains half full. Myerson balances her characterisation superbly between pity and irony.
Nic Loyd has directed the company with an eye on staying faithful to Bennett’s classic whilst adding some inspirational touches of his own.
It was a satisfying evening’s theatre which did it’s job in taking us out of the realms of the reality of the gloomy times we live in and into the magic of live theatre. None more so than watching the stage crew reset for each scene – lovely little vignettes.
Malvern has been awarded a grant from the latest Arts funding – it will be well spent and is so well deserved. Catch the show all week – it’s a treat.
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Review by Euan Rose.
