REVIEW -- THE DANNY CROWE SHOW
by David Farr
Performed by Drama Students at St Martin's College, Lancaster
Sponsored by Edwards of Lancaster

The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster
Wednesday 25 to Saturday 28 January 2006

A hilarious and moving full-blooded performance

The Danny Crowe Show is quite a different beast from Stepping Out (click here to see our review of that). The latter is comedy with pathos, whilst The Danny Crowe Show is a strong and sometimes brutal allegory about post-Thatcher greed, post-Big Brother cravings for ‘celebrity' and the amazing lengths to which people will go in order to achieve their hearts' desires.

No, don't stop, read on. With not a little nod to Marlowe's Dr Faustus, Jerry Springer and the grubby world of investigative/cheque-book ‘journalism', the six characters pursue their aspirations and ambitions in defiance of reality, relationships and rational thought. Yes, they would all cheerfully sell their grandmothers, their parents, their children and even their souls.

This is a play about lies, corporate ethics, viewing figures and contemporary materialism. The effect of all this is heightened by they fact that we never see the eponymous Danny Crowe -- it's just Six Characters in Search of -- not an Author, but a celebrity.

A Gothic domestic tragedy...
... is how I can best describe the piece. It's surreal in parts, too - John Webster meets Samuel Beckett, with a touch of Joe Orton's manic mayhem thrown in for good measure. Here Latvian hill shepherds clash with Newspeak such as 'the chains of negativity', and a plot like the Comedy of Errors underlines the notion that 'it's amazing what people will believe'.

How did the cast cope with such a text? The six actors played the widely different roles with assured confidence and no mean competence. The full range of emotions -- brutality, deception, pain, desperate intrigue, broad comedy and professional smarminess -- were convincingly delivered, and without a single weak link in the cast.

The multi-location set was well designed and allowed for some neat blocking and fluid movement. Characterisation, from verbal delivery, gestures, facial expression right down to eye contact, was of a high level; at times it was very intense, as befits the complex plot and the many, well-pitched variations in dramatic tension.

With subject matter as contentious as this, a bold and firm hand at the head is needed. Daniel Cameron Thomson's direction was thorough, well conceived and finely executed in accordance with the demands of the play. His supporting crew -- lights, props, sound etc -- were just that: their contributions all added to the work of the director and the cast.

Which is just as it should be: perfect team work which, given the nature of this play, succeeded in delivering a great evening's vivid if not always comfortable entertainment.

Copyright © 8 February 2006 Michael Nunn