a review by Ben Shenton

THE CONVERSATION

I prefer listening to a play on the Radio, rather than watching it on television. A radio play is far more intimate as your imagination creates your own personal picture of the characters, background, and images. The experience is unique and the world created in your mind may be vastly different to that envisaged by the author or director.

I thought about this whilst watching, and listening to, The Conversation. Everyone that saw the performance will have taken something different from it as it inspired the imagination and thought processes. It was in some ways “radio for the eyes and ears”, as the colourful attire and well rehearsed movements added to the creativity of the audience’s imagination, and the images conjured by the conversation.

The music selection was inspired – albeit much was of my own personal taste. The humour was well intertwined with the pace of the production and was often intelligent rather than lazy. Song performances and dance were well executed and memorable.

The mix of acting talents was also to be applauded. Too often in productions characters are all portrayed as outgoing, gregarious, and animated. Yet in life a large proportion of the population are somewhat monotone, reserved and self-conscious. By the end of the play I was tending to applaud the balance provided by those of a less flamboyant nature rather than criticise due to their more realistic approach to the portrayal of a large part of the population. The BBC, for example, has an obsession with larger than life characters which often leaves their productions looking like unrealistic dross. It was the performance of the group as a whole that made the production, rather than any individual performances.

The concepts of sleep, death, fears, thoughts, dreams, ambitions, etc were all deftly explored.  Indeed as an ex-politician there was truth in the fact that people are rarely satisfied with their political leadership – always believing that it could be done better and that their leaders don’t care (of course they do really!).

All in all a well performed, enjoyable, and thought provoking piece of theatre.