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|
| Cast | |
| Curly Delafield | Peter Griffin |
| Jenny | Claire Lewis-McClean |
| Mrs Dunning | Stephanie Dungate |
| Patrick Delafield | Tony Donnelly |
| Max | Danny Grimwood |
| Barman, Storeman, Policeman, Porter | Mark Campbell |
| Crew | |
| Stage Manager | Christine McKeon |
| Assistant Stage Manager | Julia Randall |
| Set Design | Mike Higginson |
| Set Construction | Mike Higginson, Tony Donnelly, Julia Randall |
| Lighting Design | John Buckle, Bernard Tilley |
| Lighting & Sound Operation | Allison Henderson |
| Music | Roger Gay |
| Backstage | Angela Randall |
With thanks to Shirley Andrews, Maureen Hardwen, Jenny Devonshire and Wendy Marsh for their contribution to the production.
Preview
Knuckle down
The final production in the Edward Alderton Theatre season will be a performance of David Hare's play Knuckle. Set in Guildford in the 1920s, the plot centres on Curly Delafield, a young arms merchant determined to discover the secret behind the disappearance of his sister, Sarah. Sarah disappeared from a deserted stretch of beach between Pevensey and Eastbourne twelve years previously.
Delafield's investigations uncover a web of corruption under the placid setting of Guildford, where his father lives in suspicious circumstances with his housekeeper, Mrs Dunning. Will Delafield unfold the mystery of his sister's disappearance - and is his father involved?
Why not find out in the first of Hare's plays to move away from his usual contemporary satire toward what he calls his history plays.
Unknown newspaper
Review
Knuckles are bared in this play
This week at the Edward Alderton Theatre in Bexleyheath, yet another play by the prolific British dramatist David Hare takes to the stage in a production directed by Mike Higginson.
As many non-professional theatre groups have found to their cost, David Hare's very individual approach to drama tends to be esoteric and full of subtle allusions to social problems, the state of the establishment, and other elements of society mat are woven almost imperceptibly into his works. Unless directors are aware of these undoubted pitfalls, they can be left with a fairly trite and forgettable production on their hands.
Fortunately, this is not the case with the Edward Alderton Theatre's revival of Knuckle which was Hare's first work to reach the West End during the 1970s. A combination of Mike Higginson's very atmospheric and versatile set, superb lighting by John Buckle and Bernard Tilley, and great acting by the whole company make this a real tribute to the writer's admittedly sometimes flawed genius. Anyone who is addicted to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer genre will love the air of menace, constantly changing plot, and characterizations that are larger than life.
Curley (Peter Griffin) is looting for
his young sister who disappeared on an Eastbourne beach. Was she
murdered, or why? Curley is a young arms dealer and full of venom. His
friend Max, beautifully played in an understated way by Danny
Grimwood, seems to know more than he's revealing. And so does the
tarty, sexy club owner Jenny (Claire Lewis-McClean).
And what about Curly's evasive father (Tony Donnelly) and his
extremely close housekeeper (Stephanie Dungate)? This is a play about
a series of psychological assaults. It teeters on the edge of violence
throughout, and there is a constant air of a Spillane thriller being
brought to life.
But the reality is more complex.
Roy Atterbury
Kentish Times | 3 July 2003
