I have to confess, up front, that I am now not a fan of Stephen Poliakoff’s stage plays. Having been in one (Sweet Panic) and now seen another (Blinded by the Sun), I don’t like his style. He makes excessive and seemingly unnecessary use of bizarre props - models of London buildings and a photo booth in one; a clutter of plastic evidence bags with random contents and a virtual reality game in the other. He takes a simple message and bludgeons it into the audience for two hours. He doesn’t know how to end a play. And he doesn’t bother to make any of his characters real people; their actions and dialogue are driven by what their characters represent, not who they are. In Blinded by the Sun history student Joanne’s immediate infatuation with science lecturer Al is never explained, nor is the reason for her presence at all the faculty’s key meetings. What was the point of Charlie? Like the character I played in Sweet Panic, his only function seemed to be to bring random food onto the stage for no dramatic purpose.
But enough of that. I recognise that Poliakoff may indeed be a genius and that I am simply missing the point. After all, the theatre was packed on the Saturday night. More importantly, Abingdon Drama Club made a good job of staging the show at the Unicorn Theatre.
Adam Blake was hardly off stage as Al, the ‘relatively ungifted’ head of department and he carried the play well, having to be both character in the drama and narrator of his own life. He was ably supported in this central performance by Laura King, who was very believable and relaxed as his sort-of girlfriend Joanne.
Al’s two colleagues were the possibly fraudulent (but possibly not) Christopher, played with appropriate conceit by Christopher Kendrick and the ‘once-renowned but now unable to finish her great project’ Elinor, played with aplomb by Jill Calvert. The remaining roles were ably played by Keith Hales as the Professor, Malcolm Ross as mushy pea expert Charlie and by Deborah Emmett and Louise Appleton as, respectively, another faculty member and Christopher’s wife.
It was a difficult, dated and challenging play. Director Christopher Frost kept the action going well through some quite prop-intensive scene changes and the simplistic setting worked well to assist this. Abingdon Drama Club – 10 points. Stephen Poliakoff – nil points.
But enough of that. I recognise that Poliakoff may indeed be a genius and that I am simply missing the point. After all, the theatre was packed on the Saturday night. More importantly, Abingdon Drama Club made a good job of staging the show at the Unicorn Theatre.
Adam Blake was hardly off stage as Al, the ‘relatively ungifted’ head of department and he carried the play well, having to be both character in the drama and narrator of his own life. He was ably supported in this central performance by Laura King, who was very believable and relaxed as his sort-of girlfriend Joanne.
Al’s two colleagues were the possibly fraudulent (but possibly not) Christopher, played with appropriate conceit by Christopher Kendrick and the ‘once-renowned but now unable to finish her great project’ Elinor, played with aplomb by Jill Calvert. The remaining roles were ably played by Keith Hales as the Professor, Malcolm Ross as mushy pea expert Charlie and by Deborah Emmett and Louise Appleton as, respectively, another faculty member and Christopher’s wife.
It was a difficult, dated and challenging play. Director Christopher Frost kept the action going well through some quite prop-intensive scene changes and the simplistic setting worked well to assist this. Abingdon Drama Club – 10 points. Stephen Poliakoff – nil points.