THE HANDYMAN (Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre)
 |
| Timothy West as Romka |
Acclaimed writer, Ronald Harwood, explores the unlikely but emotive
subject of war crimes and genocide in his play The Handyman, which is enjoying
a revival at Malvern Festival Theatre this week. No stranger to this delicate
subject, Harwood, who won an Oscar for his screenplay, The Pianist, presents an
excellent platform for morale debate with this story of an elderly,
Ukranian-born, handyman living very simply among the affluence of the Home
Counties, who is unexpectedly accused of horrendous war crimes. The handyman,
Romka, pleads his innocence, with the support of his surrogate family who
employ him and a female lawyer with a tenuous Jewish connection. As the
evidence against him mounts, the protests of his actual innocence come in to
question.
Timothy West stars as the accused handyman, Roman Kozachenko,
giving the quality of performance you would expect from such a theatrical
great. Caroline Langrishe and Adrian Lukis are perfectly detestable as the
affluent, Mr and Mrs Field, who laughingly compare their middle class troubles
to the atrocities of the holocaust, while often begrudging the inconvenience
being caused them. Carolyn Backhouse wonderfully intimidates the Fields as the
striking lawyer, Marian Stone, but is gently supportive of the accused during
the interrogation by the stereotypical detectives, convincingly played by James
Simmons and Anthony Houghton. The infamous Steven Berkoff evens makes an
appearance, albeit on screen, as does the brilliant Vanessa Redgrave, who gives
a stunning performance.
Joe Harmston’s direction was simply effective and contained
some beautifully choreographed scene changes on Sean Cavanagh’s quite beautiful
set. Despite the subject matter this play contained a fair amount of humour
that helped lighten what could have been a very depressing tale. Although this
may not be everyone’s idea of a fun night out, it is definitely thought
provoking and worth seeing.
No comments:
Post a Comment