{"id":1823,"date":"2017-05-14T20:42:41","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T19:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madf.im\/?p=1823"},"modified":"2017-05-14T20:45:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T19:45:00","slug":"an-imaginatively-crafted-and-memorable-moment-of-theatre-from-legion-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madf.im\/?p=1823","title":{"rendered":"An imaginatively crafted and memorable moment of theatre from Legion Players"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Last Obit <\/i><\/b>by Peter Tinniswood was performed by Manx company <\/span>Legion Players <\/b>as the fourth play in the 2017 Easter Festival of Plays. This is a very challenging one person, one act play which relies greatly on the balance of light and shade. Offsetting that of the plays morbidity and despair with the lighter comic lines dotted throughout, really brings Tinniswood\u2019s black comedy to life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The play follows the character of Millicent, played by <\/span>Stephanie Gray<\/b>, who after a lifetime\u2019s work in the Obituary Department of the Morning Telegraph has been computerised and is preparing her final obituary. The question is: Whose obit will it be? As the play progresses Millicent tells of her many memories of friends, lovers and the famous before she makes that decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s <\/b>Millicent was a phenomenal piece of acting as she completely engaged the audience all the way through, an extremely challenging thing to do in a one person play. She had great physicality, posture and clarity. Held silences well and really revelled in the eye contact with the audience. There was a great distinction between the characters\u2019 voices employed for the different stories, <\/span>Gray <\/b>very believably portrayed the feel of being in different spaces and times when reenacting the memories. Her tone of voice effectively matched the content of speech successfully drawing in the audience into the character\u2019s world. This was an obvious example of a strong performer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The set was excellently thought out with every detail serving a purpose, everything was perfectly placed. <\/span>Legion Players <\/b>used the breadth of the stage and <\/span>Stephanie Gray <\/b>effectively filled it, using all the space available and with absolute purpose, every movement had motivation behind it, which showed brilliant work from the director <\/span>Olga Gray<\/b>. A lot of action occurred at the back of the stage, at times slightly hampering it, so perhaps the set could have been brought forward slightly to ensure all the action is fully appreciated. At times the lighter, more comic lines could have been accentuated to create more of a balance between the dark morbidity and the lighter humour but the actress and director clearly worked very effectively together.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was great imaginative use of lighting effects in the production, specifically the triangles of projection on the back wall which were very striking. The pictures presented on the projector wonderfully matched the characters thoughts and signified when Millicent was telling another story, giving a sense of different times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Meadows, the adjudicator for this year\u2019s Easter Festival had the following to say about <\/span>Legion Players\u2019 <\/b>production: \u201c<\/span>Stephanie Gray\u2019s <\/i><\/b>performance as Millicent had searing intensity. The direction was imaginative and assured. The stage presentation was highly creative.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, <\/span>Legion Players\u2019 <\/b>production of <\/span>The Last Obit<\/i><\/b> was an honest interpretation that really accentuated the pain of Millicent. It was imaginatively crafted and it was obvious that we were in the company of stage technician who knows their craft. This work in combination with the director really made for a memorable moment of theatre.<\/span><\/p>\n