Shropshire Events and Whats On Guide

Shropshire Events and Whats On Guide

Theatre Review : A View From The Bridge

VFTB (TCTC) Jonathan Guy Lewis (Eddie) JamesRastall (Rodolpho), Teresa Banham (Beatrice) Daisy Boulton (Catherine) and Philip Cairns (Marco)Chris Eldon Lee reviews “A View From The Bridge” which is at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 28th March and Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre from the 8th to 11th April.

The Touring Consortium Theatre Company is a remarkable institution …bringing live, top-notch drama to those of us lucky enough not to have to live in London. Its artistic status is such that seriously good actors of the quality of Michael Brandon are prepared to dig into their weekly digs and accept supporting roles. In ‘A View From The Bridge’, Brandon takes Arthur Miller’s relatively journeyman role of the narrating solicitor and breaths so much humanity into it he immediately sets a high bar for the rest of the cast to leap. Which they do, wonderfully.

Jonathan Guy Lewis plays Eddie Carbone, the Brooklyn longshoreman, who has been raising his beautiful niece and harbours secret desires as she matures into a women who “walks wavey”. It’s a stunning portrayal of a man who has held it together for so long but now can’t stop himself turning his attention from his wife to his ward; consequently orchestrating his own bludgeon-minded downfall. A line of telegraph poles behind his tenement disappears into the distance…and so does Eddie’s equilibrium. Lewis offers us a frighteningly convincing journey from an affable uncle to an unhinged menace.

The threat he can’t cope with is the illegal arrival of fellow Sicilians looking for lodgings – and love. James Rastall is innocence itself as the blond, devilishly attractive and utterly reasonable young man, Rodolpho. There is just enough bisexuality about him to ignite Eddie’s homophobia and more than enough masculinity to ignite the daughter’s passion.

Catherine is played by recently graduated Daisy Boulton, and in Stephen Unwin’s production she makes this ‘her’ play. Her dilemma is laid bare as she tries to honour the man who has sacrificed so much for her security…but has to admit he is now a corrupted, uncontrollable threat. It’s a fabulous portrayal of a naïve young woman slowly realising she has to face up to the terror within.

Together the ensemble plays out a hugely impressive fatal climax. The set-text students in the stalls looked stunned.

When Miller wrote this play in 1956, New York was suffering a serious influx of Sicilian immigrants desperate for an income. How the world turns. 50 years later I sat on the shores of Sicily watching young black Africans who’d risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean lining up for manual work, like cattle at a market.

We’ll be hearing a lot of hot air about immigration in the coming pre-election weeks. But no politician can get to the aching heart of the matter like Arthur Miller. Apart from being a master class in classic drama, this production of “A View From the Bridge” is an searing parable on the human costs of human trafficking – and the painful impact successful immigrants can have on an insecure indigenous individual.

At the final curtain I was applauding not only the faultless actors – but also whoever it was who had the perfect vision to see that this 60-year-old play would still teach us so much in the Spring of 2015. It’s arresting – and not to be missed.

PHOTO : Jonathan Guy Lewis (Eddie), James Rastall (Rodolpho), Teresa Banham (Beatrice), Daisy Boulton (Catherine) and Philip Cairns (Marco).

Visit www.grandtheatre.info for bookings & information about Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre