Leighton Buzzard Drama Group present two one-act plays - Semblance of Madness by John H Newmeir and The Long Road by Shelagh Stephenson.

Director: Bob Jones

Women who Kill    7 - 9 April, 2011

Reviews: Women Who Kill (Leighton Buzzard Drama Group)

Published on Friday 15 April 2011 09:58

 

THERE’S been a bit of a revolution in am-dram. At one time they churned out a familiar and safe series of dramas and comedies and, while acceptable, they hardly caused much excitement.  But the Leighton Buzzard Drama Group decided to throw caution to the wind with their latest production and they came up with a first rate, thought-provoking and ambitious double act that showed just how good local drama can be.

 

Women Who Kill featured two one-act plays that gave the largely female cast the opportunity to really stretch themselves.

 

The first story, Semblance of Madness by John H Newmeir, was a sombre experience. Set in a psychiatric hospital, this riveting drama looked at the motives behind murder and gave Caroline Page one of her most challenging roles as a patient with a split personality (or did she?).  Then there was Debbie Kaye as the vulnerable and flawed Dawn who lived in her imagination in a bid to escape the horror of what she had done, and the self-confident Hannah (Lainy Ward) who, if this had been One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, would have taken the Jack Nicholson role of the not-so-sane guardian angel.

 

The dour drama came across as a particularly harrowing episode of Prisoner Cell Block H and needed a few breaks in the intense dialogue to give the audience a moment to relax.

 

The second play, The Long Road, by Shelagh Stephenson, took the theme of restorative justice and applied it to one family’s battle to overcome the senseless killing of a child.  A teenage boy is stabbed to death in a Soho street because he refused to give £1 to a desperate girl. It was a stupid moment of madness that was instantly regretted by the attacker.  But over the course of the play we see how the boy’s traumatised mother and brother try to build a relationship with the young girl while the lad’s father is unable to be so understanding.

 

There’s a lot of left-wing rhetoric, blaming the incident on the girl’s troubled and deprived upbringing, which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the father and, I’m sure many in the audience.

 

As he points out, there are plenty of people who have under-privileged upbringings but they don’t thrust a knife into an innocent boy.

 

There were uniformly excellent performances from everyone. It was great to see relative newcomer Carl Russell tackle his first serious role as the devastated father while Ann Kempster evoked sympathy as a mother trying to come to terms with the loss of her beloved son.

 

Young Steven Kernaghan-Andrews makes an impressive début as Joe, the brother of the dead teenager. It’s a harrowing part and one which he tackles with assurance.  Lauren Stanley rises to the challenge of playing the stroppy, vulnerable, and fractured Emma, a girl from the streets who, it seems, has been heading for disaster since birth.

 

Both plays were a real departure for LBDG and full marks for their courage. Superb night’s theatre.

 

ANNE COX