HARVEY

Malvern Festival Theatre

(Don Gregory in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre) 

‘Harvey’ makes an appearance at Malvern Festival Theatre this week. Or does he? This charming story of a man and his invisible friend, a six foot three and a half inch, white rabbit, is a jolly jaunt through the human psyche of belief and what is acceptable, and often preferable, when it comes to someone’s sanity.

James Dreyfus is brilliant and simply adorable as the endearingly gentle Elwood P Dowd who, following the death of his mother, acquired the companionship of Harvey, a pooka (a faery creature of Celtic folklore) in the form of a giant rabbit. Elwood’s insistence to introduce Harvey to everyone that he meets drives his social climbing sister, Veta, to distraction and leaves his lovelorn niece, Ethel, devoid of suitors. So dire is their situation that they decide to commit him to Chumley’s Rest, the local sanatorium. Misunderstandings twinned with misdiagnosis leads to a series of unfortunate events that leaves everybody’s psychological stability in question.

Maureen Lipman delights as the dithering sister, as does Amanda Boxer as the despondent niece. An ample cast of thirteen others make up the collection of characters to tell the tale, notably Jack Hawkings and David Bamber, as the psychologists, Dr Sanderson and Dr Chumley.

Although this is a thoroughly enjoyable play, it seems to fall a little short of it’s potential due to the seeming lack of direction and cohesion of characters. It is almost as if the actors were left to their own devices without an overseer of action. This is surprising, considering the apparent calibre of director, Lindsey Posner. The blocking was awkward in places, characterisations were underdeveloped and two dimensional at times and the use of some props, in particular the home telephone, drew too much focus with its unnerving potential for catastrophe. Having said that, the writing is wonderful, the performances engaging overall and Peter McKintosh’s set design breathtaking. A double revolve, impressively glides from beautiful, wood panelled, library to hygienically imposing sanatorium to smoke filled, Charley’s Bar; a stunning feet of artistic engineering. Effective stage tricks really help bring the eponymous character to life too.

Harvey is one of those shows that you will find yourself grinning through from beginning to end and is certainly worth experiencing.

4 stars