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Thursday 24 March saw Theatre 3 Newtownabbey perform The Anastasia File by Royce Ryton at Newry Drama Festival. The Adjudicator Brian Marjoribanks spoke of the wonderful pace and pitch throughout the production and praised so many individual performances although he was disappointed with some hesitancies in the production.
Marjoribanks said "It was a splendid production tonight I found that very very entertaining, as were all the plays this week. As I read through it, I'm a big believer that plays aren't meant to be read, they are meant to be acted but when I read through, I thoroughly enjoyed the read, I thought it was a very good story, but over and above that there were strong parts for half a dozen different people."
He continued "I wondered to myself, would there be a problem with the Russian language? On television no problems because you bring up subtitles and it's quite clear. That didn't worry me in the least, it sounded most authentic as I'm sure it was.
"It needed a composite set here because of the change of venues right throughout it and if you have a composite set there is a demand on the lighting of it as well. Powerful moments particularly for Anastasia herself in it and I wondered on the lighting, sometimes it bordered on the melodrama and I wondered if the actress would be tempted into that - Was she heck, she was absolutely lovely the way she interpreted the performance.
"So yes many things going for it. When we saw inside the set here I thought to myself yes, it's quite minimalist the way that they actually laid this out but I thought it was so so impressive. You'll know that I've been talking all week about the need to get visual variety on stage and I was just a tiny bit critical last night of the fact that there was so much furniture on the stage, It was difficult for the actors to get the space that they needed to group characters and interpret it. This was the very opposite tonight and I thought it was extremely imaginatively done. I liked the space they had, plenty of space for all the action throughout it. I did think to myself at one point or another, could they have used the odd rostrum here and there to make a variety of height, but I can see the stage management team saying to themselves, if you think we're taking this all over Ireland and a rostrum as well you're much much mistaken! So I take back that criticism of suggestion from it. I liked the diagonal bed, I liked the diagonal table here. It's well laid out with opportunities for grouping of characters. I also particularly liked the family group portrait here, it was there right throughout it to remind us of what the main theme of this production was, and I thought that was very very well handled and reinforced it right throughout."
The Adjudicator continued "Lighting wise I thought it was particularly well lit. As you know I've been saying it all week, I must see the faces of people, I must see the eyes and I thought they got that right throughout it and it was lovely to actually see it. We've got cross feeds coming through as well which allowed us to see the faces and then to put people into the background.
"Costumes. I thought it reflected the period, that was all I required of it and that's what I got.
"Sound, I loved the selection of the music with the Russian theme coming through with it. It was simple, but very effective. Actually simple things in the theatre are always so very very effective. Just a pity that when you faded the music, it didn't fade, it was simply cut at times. I'd like to fade it just a bit more into silence rather than the cut off but that's been super critical." he added.
The Performers
Marjoribanks continued "Rather than talk about the production tonight, I'd like to start talking about the actual individual performances because they were remarkably good.
"Anastasia herself, lovely vocal register. Conversationally, we tend only to use two or three pitches of voice. If you want to act on stage or do public speaking they need to extend that out at least an octave of different pitches and I thought this actress was capable of doing that. It was lovely to listen to it. I would say to her, do be aware, when you get extremely excited at times and the pitch of your voice goes up, sometimes the clarity can be sacrificed so do be aware of that. But that said, some sequences were splendid, the hair sticky with blood, so full of meaning, splendid. The pregnant sequence as she explained that, I thought was very very good. She was so radiant at times. There was an emotion in her voice at other times that created the mood and the atmosphere I was looking for. Lovely inate ability to relate the story quite convincingly to us. Her variety of pace, pitch volume, and she also obviously loved language. She choose her key words and gave them just a little bit more emphasis and brought the whole thing alive, so it was very very enjoyable from her."
"The Inspector who's opening projection right from the word go was very very good indeed, and I felt we had an experienced actor in front of us who was enjoying his performance. His stage movement I thought was good, his edgy movement early on, conveyed the fact that he was in a state of mind where his mind was controlling what was going on. I thought that came over in his movement most most effectively. He grew in strength as he developed throughout Act One which was lovely to see." he added.
Marjoribanks continued "The Doctors performance, so convincing, relaxed and with ease earlier on, it was lovely to see.
"The General, a lovely character which he played with style, and by playing with that style he created the social differences between him and mere underlings in it.
"Nurse was vocally excellent too. The spark of performance earlier on which I enjoyed. Her movement conveyed her medical character, the fact that she was in charge with things to do with medical and her movement resulted in that. Your response Nurse to the Kaiser in the First Act I thought was extremely good. It had both pace and pitch and varied throughout, it was lovely to listen to.
"The Countess vocally captured again that character and the social difference between her and the others on stage and so did her movement. Late Act One with the Inspector I thought she was particularly good and she commanded very very well. You have to listen to what this Countess had to say so that was very nice. Other lovely little contributions right throughout which I thought were lovely to listen to."
The Production
Marjoribanks said "Production wise I thought the movement was extremely well thought out on the stage here. It was well motivated. At no time did I feel that they've been told to make a mood. All of the moods came from inside and that's what I like to see. The space was used well by the Producter, it was lovely to see. The whole of the stage was used to get the visual variety that I wanted. Vocally yes, voices sort of blended extremely well one with the other, contrasted at other important times too."
He continued "Splendid ending to Act One, then in Act Two I thought the the nightmare scene for her was handled well. I also liked the cinema. I could see the facial response to what she was watching on the screen coming through from her.
"On the debit side I was quite surprised about two or three hesitancies in the production and I thought it was late in the season for the festival. It was quite strange, It broke the mood and the atmosphere, very much a great pity because you'd gone to great lengths to actually build it up.
The Adjudicator added "The dental examination of her, that particular sequence. Do be aware that I thought it was awfully important that Anesthesia always had to be the centre of attention and I thought the others have to support her and I wouldn't have wanted at any time the others to out-act her at any particular point and that worried me just a little bit, like as after they were talking about having a party because she signed some of her money away. I would tone that down just a little bit so that we could concentrate on the impact it's having on Anastasia herself, but these are minor criticisms."
He conluded "In many ways there was a strong narative in this particular play but this team, Director, technical staff and above all the cast who took it off the page into tonight's performance so successfully, that we in the audience thoroughly benefited from it, so many, many thanks to Theatre 3 of Newtownabbey, thank you."
