Skylight
| Birmingham Evening Mail |
| Romance framed
The Skylight was the window through which a dying woman had seen the world outside. And in the cut-and-thrust of the verbal battles which fill David Hare's play it perhaps represents the window through which the widower and his lover try desperately to see a combined future. It's going to be impossible, of course. She says he doesn't value hapiness; he says she's interested people only until she can get away from them. And so it goes on: two way psychiatry in which the couch is a pin cushion. It's wordy, it's noisy, it's often crude and cruel, but Pamela Merideth has conjured a production that is absorbing and refreshingly unforced. Athol M'Donald and Vivienne Cole are first class sparring partners and James Stevens, as the son, handles his own vast chunk of script without faltering. I wouldn't call it my idea of entertainment, but it is a crackling production and it runs until tomorrow. JOHN SLIM |
| Kidderminster Shuttle |
| SKYLIGHT, is set in a shabby, and extremely cold, flat, belonging to
Kyra. She has a visitor, Edward, the son of a former employer who is worried
about his father, Tom, widowed a year ago. He is becoming impossible to
live with, and Edward hopes Kyra can help. After all, she used to live
with them -why did she leave? Later that evening, Tom arrives. During ensuing
conversations, there are revelations guilt and many home truths.
My interest was held throughout, but I cannot understand why the final
scene is in at all. I felt the play really ended at the end of the previous
scene.
There were only three actors, and each gave good performances. James Stevens made a most impressive debut as Edward, never faltering in his dialogue, and showing emotion when necessary. The ever dependable Athol M'Donald was Tom, who as always was convincing
as the somewhat pompous businessman, a master at sarcasm. As Kyra, Vivienne
Cole had to cook a pasta meal while acting, which could not have been easy.
VJS |
| Worcester Evening News |
| Kyra has barely had time to dwell on and discount past times when Tom
himself appears at her flat. He is a successful businessman whose
wife Alice has been dead for more than a year. He and Kyra clearly
have a lot of common ground to cover but if ever a path was likely to be
less than smooth. Vivienne Cole as Kyra played the teacher-with-a-heart
with passion, conviction and utter indignation when necessary.
Tom, played by Athol M'Donald, portrayed a man at times so bewildered and out of his depth that it was almost heartbreaking to watch. The intimate setting of The Studio helped add to the tension which built up between Kyra and Tom as each headed towards destruction with their unwillingness to compromise. Tina Faulkner |