#1
Posted: 9/1/10 at 12:17pm
Well, I went to see the much anticipated premiere of Craig Revel Horwood's production of Chess at Theatre Royal on Friday. I was really looking forward to the production; it is one of my favourite shows and I liked the design of Revel Horwood's Danish production.
However, the evening was huge disappointment. The costumes and use of LED was excellent. However, the visual appeal did not make up for the poor performances and lack of clarity. If you don't know then show, then you will really struggle to follow the narrative; severely limited by the minimalist setting.
I like the concept of the actors playing instruments and it works for some shows, however, in this show, they are very distracting.
Revel Horwood clearly states in the programme that he 'wants to focus on the central love triangle'. However, his lack of focus on developing these characters and their relationships is what let's this production down. It seems Revel Horwood was completely out of his depth; the direction was limited - actors simply swapped places and quickly changed emotion without explanation.
Shona White as Florence (the character at the centre of the love triangle) was dreadful. She lacked any chemistry with either of the men she was supposed to love. Nor did I care for her enough to make the ending moving. Her voice was not strong enough to susatin the difficult sing of Florence, and her limitations were exposed when she needed to belt.
James Fox as Freddie, again seemed lost. He didn't really understand the character, so we didn't understand Freddie's tortured past, or his confused feelings for Florence.
Daniel Koek as the Russian, didn't even attempt to act. He relied on a great singing voice to carry his performance. Anatoly's relationship will Florence happened far too quickly during Mountain Duet. I was really surprised to read that Daniel had any stage experience at all. He seemed like a recording artist who had been thrust on the stage - he appeared lost throughout.
Poppy Tierney gave the best performance, as Svetlana. She had warmth and pathos. However, due to poor direction her role in the narrative wasn't remotely clear.
Revel Harwood really should have focused more on developing and exploring the relationships between his principals and not making the show look impressive.
However, the evening was huge disappointment. The costumes and use of LED was excellent. However, the visual appeal did not make up for the poor performances and lack of clarity. If you don't know then show, then you will really struggle to follow the narrative; severely limited by the minimalist setting.
I like the concept of the actors playing instruments and it works for some shows, however, in this show, they are very distracting.
Revel Horwood clearly states in the programme that he 'wants to focus on the central love triangle'. However, his lack of focus on developing these characters and their relationships is what let's this production down. It seems Revel Horwood was completely out of his depth; the direction was limited - actors simply swapped places and quickly changed emotion without explanation.
Shona White as Florence (the character at the centre of the love triangle) was dreadful. She lacked any chemistry with either of the men she was supposed to love. Nor did I care for her enough to make the ending moving. Her voice was not strong enough to susatin the difficult sing of Florence, and her limitations were exposed when she needed to belt.
James Fox as Freddie, again seemed lost. He didn't really understand the character, so we didn't understand Freddie's tortured past, or his confused feelings for Florence.
Daniel Koek as the Russian, didn't even attempt to act. He relied on a great singing voice to carry his performance. Anatoly's relationship will Florence happened far too quickly during Mountain Duet. I was really surprised to read that Daniel had any stage experience at all. He seemed like a recording artist who had been thrust on the stage - he appeared lost throughout.
Poppy Tierney gave the best performance, as Svetlana. She had warmth and pathos. However, due to poor direction her role in the narrative wasn't remotely clear.
Revel Harwood really should have focused more on developing and exploring the relationships between his principals and not making the show look impressive.
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