REVIEW: Blue Remembered Hills, Hamble Players, Hamble Village Memorial Hall (From Daily Echo)
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REVIEW: Blue Remembered Hills, Hamble Players, Hamble Village Memorial Hall
9:07am Tuesday 27th September 2011 in Curtain Call By Ham Quentin
DENNIS Potter’s memorable drama has adult actors playing seven-year-olds roaming the Gloucestershire countryside in 1943, squabbling, joking and occasionally giving way to the terror inspired by the war going on around them.
Director Kay Baker’s cast creates believable kids, mostly endearing, but horrid at times. Paul Warne is particularly effective as Willie – a boy who never misses an opportunity to stir things up – and David Humphries is excellent as Peter, the bully.
These two have the audience hanging on their every word and exclaiming aloud at some new piece of childishness, and the rest of the cast all have their moments.
The pace is sometimes slowed by an overuse of blackouts to indicate a change of scene. However, other aspects of the staging work brilliantly, particularly when the children jump off stage and run around the aisles, and the daringly staged barn fire.
