Reviews

Norfolk's Rose,

CHRISTOPHER SMITH

Last updated: 30/09/2009 21:01:00

This play is a scream, a succession of screams, screams of horror, of anticipation as perils grow as we look on, apparently helpless to avert the inevitable outcome for such a nice young man unless - but you can hardly bear to wait and see.

Bart Lee, designer and director as well as author, sets his 75-minute melodrama on a raised, slanting platform. A glance tells us that nothing is quite on the square.

It all begins calmly enough, at the start of his career a would-be writer seeks help from a more experienced dramatist. What could be more sensible? And the comedy is nicely observed when they meet on the train. The trouble is that it is taking them to darkest Norfolk.

What they find there makes your hair stand on end.

Locked doors, bumps in the night, curious cries and whispers, darkness and a puff of mist all play their part, creating the Gothic climate of doubt and terror.

What's inside a man's heart, though, is even worse.

From Matthew Field and Matthew Roland-Roberts a pair of grand performances that never let the tension slacken.

Christopher Smith

For details please email bart@bartleetheatre.co.uk