THE setting of Tim Firth’s 1991 play – Rampsholme Island, Derwent Water, or a narrow, heavily forested strip of it – is beautifully realised here by set designer Jon Morgan and the players’ set and stage crews, with a nice combination of natural foliage and paintings by Caz Gradwell.
And Barry Kitchen and Rachel Craig’s lighting and sound effects are also effective.
However, the confined space available to Firth’s four ‘marooned’ men, brought there for a motivational bonding exercise, does seem to end up limiting the story development, despite a few well telegraphed surprises.
Still, Director Peter Burton and his cast manage to deliver a fair amount of humour, sentiment and some suspense.
Peter Revis certainly looks right in the underwritten role of Neville, the group’s ineffectual team leader, and provides a good foil for the more demonstrative roles of Gordon (Colin Carter, splendidly aggressive and making his Bishopstoke début) and Angus (Simon Wisbey) gets some sympathy for this insecure husband.
Jon Morgan gets the standout role, as Roy, a gentle, potentially suicidal soul, a different performance space, high up in ‘the look out tree’, and a change of costume audience members may find alarming!
Ham Quentin
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