No 6 -- April 1977 Edited by Michael Walters
PATIENCE IN BRISTOL Spring 1976. Report by Peter Allanson
Patience went down very well last week. I'm not convinced by updating it, however I feel that part of the comic effect was of seeing people one knows so well in antithetical roles - yours truly looking like John Lennon, and doing a partial impression of Quentin Crisp to name but one! In that context, the Act 2 business where Grosvenor grabs Bunthorne's knees was that much funnier and a slight twist to "Oh its you" also! Of course, updating a production is not a carte-blanche excuse for chopping the libretto around - the temptation to change lines was strongly resisted, apart from the uniforms which were "Green & Khaki - military colours" and Bunthorne did not "care for dirty jeans." I felt Keith Warner's production was very neat with some excellent pieces of movement - the irresistible ''Leap-frogging" at the end of the Bunthorne-Jane duet never failed to "wow" the audience and surely one if the highlights of the show the Trio-Quintette sequence with excellent movement nicely varied in the quintette, well done by the most unprepossessing opsoc characters! However, I did feel that in parts the production was too bitty, caused mainly by demanding that the chorus take part in the action without being more specific, which inevitably led to miscellaneous hand movements, head-nodding and fever-pitch conversation - all very stagey and distracting for the audience. I also disapproved strongly of the way the dragoons, having left the stage on the "wrong" side after the Colonel's 2nd song, being summoned, and running across after Bunthorne's line "Am I alone and unobserved" - admittedly very funny but I'm not sure Bunthorne needs the help of the dragoons to look a fool at that stage of the proceedings. As you must appreciate it is very difficult to be objective about a show you've been in, but I hope I have - if you do print this would you mention that please?
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