29 March 2008

The Miracle by Lin Coghlan

Ron: Ruby Bentall
Peter 'Chewy' Zapadski: Ian Bonar
Mrs Sheenan: Clare Burt
Lanky Girl: Nicole Charles
Trousers: Gregg Chillin
Zelda: Rebecca Cooper
Mr Rodgers: Sam Crane
Angela Brickman: Claire Foy
PC703: Troy Glasgow
Header Hammond: Jack Gordon
Lanky Girl: Claire Lams
Lorenzo Hammond: Henry Lloyd Hughes
Miss Lowry: Petra Letang
Billy Hammond: Ryan Sampson
Mrs Ginger/Lanky Girl: Kellie Shirley
Barry O'Donnell: Benjamin Smith
Ginger: Paul Thornley

Directed by Paul Miller
Designed by Simon Daw

At the Cottesloe in it's first run E23
Celeb in the audience: Sinead Cussack & children(which is quite sweet since dad was next door in the Lyttelton)


If you really pressed me, I'd say this was the weakest piece of the day but it was still powerful. It felt a little like the last one in the 24 Hour Plays but benefitted from more time to develop.

The young woman who played the amazing motor-mouth in DNA took on the role of Veronica (Ron) who believed she had a religious experience that left her with special powers. Her friend Zelda, played by Rebecca Cooper (and reminded me of the Tarbuck family) had the rather clunky task of narrating the events and I think that was where this play fell away somewhat. Ron felt that she could help a variety of problems and with good intentions she influenced the weaker, more vulnerable members of her community. This eventually fell apart with echos of The Crucible but the progression was not as well formed as the other plays. Perhaps it was just one play too many and I finally understood why most performances on have the two productions in an one evening.

I want to make a mention of Claire Lams too. She had the only white-girl role in Baby Girl and a very strong character in DNA. She had something of a chorus role in Miracle but slipped easily between all three. Ryan and Ian were also strong in Miracle.

All three of these productions used beautifully produced video images and stills projected over a vast screen at the back and above the stage. Considerable thought had been put into these and given the nature of having to change scenes so quickly, it worked beautifully.

Miracle had the added touch of completely drenching the stage because catalyst for the divine intervention was a flooded river bank.
I am so glad that I saw all of these. A wonderfully enriching day.