November 3, 2010
There's no getting away from the fact that Half Full Theatre's staging of The Graduate, adapted by Terry Johnson from the 60s novel by Charles Webb, operates with the big shadow of the 1967 film looming over it. The audience knows it and so does director David Ralf. But he has been confident enough to go at the play with all guns blazing and the result's a small triumph.
Small, only because Webb and Johnson are pretty modest in their aims. Within a general framework of battling genders and generations we are faced with quite a thin story about a morose young chap who takes for granted his chances in life and somehow gets away with it. In the movie we lapped up the action largely because of Dustin Hoffman's naive but manic presence plus the Simon and Garfunkel score. In their absence, Mr Ralf, his designer Holly Harris and cast have to work hard to deliver this comedy with a touch of social comment at the edges.
Ms Harris has produced a single, simple set of double bed surrounded by rows of clothes rails that hint at the way in which our reluctant hero Benjamin Braddock (Jeremy Neumark Jones) switches from being Mrs Robinson's reluctant stud to daughter Elaine's (Rebecca Adams) first tepid then enthusiastic suitor, while all the time fending off the aspirations that his parents (the keen but bemused Jonathon Swinard and Caitlin McMillan) and the creepy Mr Robinson (Felix Legge, full of verve) are foisting on him. Mr Neumark Jones' performance is pacy and funny. The role of Elaine is more of a problem. I thought the part underwritten, and the young woman's desperation to find a mate without bothering over much about his identity is - I'll be kind - dated. Rebecca Adams strove womanfully to put some flesh onto her character - for which, A for effort. But the pick of a very good cast has to be Erica Conway's Mrs Robinson. She's an arrogant and selfish presence at the heart of the mayhem around her. Miss Conway plays her quietly, glacially even, but she burns with energy and bite. Terrific!
No great insights into life's processes here, just good, clean(ish) fun. Seeing is enjoying.
Small, only because Webb and Johnson are pretty modest in their aims. Within a general framework of battling genders and generations we are faced with quite a thin story about a morose young chap who takes for granted his chances in life and somehow gets away with it. In the movie we lapped up the action largely because of Dustin Hoffman's naive but manic presence plus the Simon and Garfunkel score. In their absence, Mr Ralf, his designer Holly Harris and cast have to work hard to deliver this comedy with a touch of social comment at the edges.
Ms Harris has produced a single, simple set of double bed surrounded by rows of clothes rails that hint at the way in which our reluctant hero Benjamin Braddock (Jeremy Neumark Jones) switches from being Mrs Robinson's reluctant stud to daughter Elaine's (Rebecca Adams) first tepid then enthusiastic suitor, while all the time fending off the aspirations that his parents (the keen but bemused Jonathon Swinard and Caitlin McMillan) and the creepy Mr Robinson (Felix Legge, full of verve) are foisting on him. Mr Neumark Jones' performance is pacy and funny. The role of Elaine is more of a problem. I thought the part underwritten, and the young woman's desperation to find a mate without bothering over much about his identity is - I'll be kind - dated. Rebecca Adams strove womanfully to put some flesh onto her character - for which, A for effort. But the pick of a very good cast has to be Erica Conway's Mrs Robinson. She's an arrogant and selfish presence at the heart of the mayhem around her. Miss Conway plays her quietly, glacially even, but she burns with energy and bite. Terrific!
No great insights into life's processes here, just good, clean(ish) fun. Seeing is enjoying.