cast list
Catherine McKinnon and Eoin Slattery
directed by
Tid
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Fairground Theatre are an exciting company whose work blends new writing with elements of physical theatre.
Written by Adam Peck, their new production depicts the last days of the infamous outlaw couple.
Bonnie and Clyde committed many felonies during their time together, including murder and robbery, across five states in the mid-west of America before they met their fate on a rural road in Louisiana at the hands of law enforcement officers.
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The play takes place at the end of this spree. Their crimes have already been committed and the wounded couple, holed up together, are left to contemplate what they have done and try and
make last minute amends for their actions. Catherine McKinnon and Eoin Slattery, playing the outlaw lovers, both give strong performances and have a plausible passion for one another.
Peck seems less interested in their crimes, their past deeds, and more interested in exploring the relationship between the couple, their motives, and whether they feel any sense of regret for their actions. These scenes are interspersed with lyrical accounts of their death from Clyde's perspective.
The play also carries some inevitable contemporary resonance, dealing as it does with gun crime and financial crisis, the events unfolding against the backdrop of the Great Depression.
Though director Tid generates considerable tension at the start, this subsides as the production progresses and while the play offers an interesting perspective on a well known story, the production as a whole sometimes suffers from a case of style over substance.
The piece is very strikingly designed and is always aesthetically pleasing but it's not enough to carry it and despite a comparitively short running time it lags in places. A lot of care has clearly been lavished on it but the elements don't quite knit together and, given its subject matter, the production is oddly lacking in excitement, especially when compared with the iconic film.
Bonnie and Clyde is at The Brewery, Bristol until 23 October and then play Warwick Arts Centre on 26-27 October 2010
- Carl Martin Fraser
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regional reviews
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The Comedy of Errors, Theatre Royal, Newcastle
Richard III, Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
Matilda, Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Inheritance, Live Theatre, Newcastle
Beautiful Burnout, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Love,Love,Love, Royal Exchange, Manchester
The Cherry Orchard, Birmingham Rep, Birmingham
A Month in the Country, Festival Theatre, Chichester
theatre
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