ELYSIAN FIELDS

Malvern Festival Theatre

MALVERNBARD & MALVERN THEATRES

Malvern Theatres, Worcestershire

In these austere times, Malvern Theatres appears to be forging another inspired stage of evolution. Co-producing, for the first time, last week's superb production of Godber's September in the Rain and, this week, showcasing their Writer in Residence in the main house. With the development of their youth theatre over the last two years, two excellent summer school musicals and regular seasons of pre-West End productions, chief executive, Nic Lloyd continues to prove his visionary worth.

Elysian Fields, by Nick Wilkes, is a thought-provoking, often amusing and very accessible look at life and death, eloquently discussed without any pretentiousness. The quality of writing far surpasses what is expected, given the visual advertising, which lacks the professional, inspired design worthy of this production. The small audience on opening night perhaps reflected this point.

Murray Andrews, as protagonist, Stephen Fields, deftly handles an epic role showing his metal as an accomplished actor, although his performance is slightly marred by an ill fitting, tatty suit, which does not dress the character as the dialogue suggests. Pippa Meekings' interpretation of her role will be very familiar to fans of a popular, sci-fi television programme, as the seductive River and Adrian Ross-Jones, delivers an equally intriguing characterisation as Q. These two characters endeavour to assist Stephen in his quest to make sense of the predicament in which he finds himself as he interacts with the people who have impacted on his existence, many of whom are recreated by the charming Elaine Hartley, who brings a wonderfully refreshing energy to proceedings with each characterisation. Joe Warriner is aptly vulnerable as the Victorian entrepreneur, Mr Hudson and Robert Temple is perfectly disturbing as the Chief Guide. British theatre royalty, Simon Callow, also delivers a touching eulogy, beautifully demonstrating the quality of Wilkes' writing.

Jon Legg does a great job of directing a relatively static play, within Paul Ralph's suitably stark and clinical set design, while Ben Merrick's atmospheric lighting design and Andrew Davis and Neil Rose's clever sound design enhance the production.

This play is definitely worth going to see. It is fresh and contemporary writing with mainstream appeal. It supports and utilises local, professional talent and we need much more of this. Elysian Fields runs until Saturday.