Rating: * * *
Ralf Little delivered a solid performance in John Le Carre’s spy novel which navigated the terrain of Cold War espionage, deception, and moral compromise.
This production is tense and moody with a heady mix of suitably sultry making this overall adaptation slick and stylish as it was brought to life in a thrilling stage production by Jeremy Herrin.
The cast are excellent playing their respective characters well and true to the original novella. The requisite mix of moral ambiguity and romantic cynicism that Le Carré made his calling card.
With a shadowy lighting scheme, augmented by the muted brass of Paul Englishby’s filmic score. Designer Max Jones puts a huge map on the stage floor, which fits nicely with the Le Carré milieu.
The drawback lies in the fact that a lot of the action is overly static, stilted by the understandably exposition-heavy dialogue, which lends it a radio play feel at times. The drama is at its best when it’s most dynamic: the first romantic encounter of Alec and Liz; his subsequent torture at the hands of Mundt; or the famous closing moments that I won’t spoil for anyone unfamiliar with the plot.
There is much to enjoy, particularly for Le Carré aficionados, and it’s a noble effort to show that his densely detailed novels are stageable. But those unfamiliar with the source material may feel somewhat left out in the cold.
Rating: * * * * Kit Green delivered a spectacular performance as Viginia Woolf’s complex character, Mrs Dalloway! Virginia Woolf’s radical novella
Rating: * * * * This was a surprising success. It was hilariously funny with a serious undertone. Seriously, I have been
Rating: * * * * * A first-class production in every element of the play. Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novella is
The Broken Spine is a poetry and arts collective proudly published on the coastal edge of North-West England. Founded in 2019 by Alan Parry and Paul Robert Mullen – two school friends reunited after twenty years through a mutual love of poetry.
