Well, I have seen the future of so-called “amateur” theatre in Lichfield, where the standard is already impossibly high thanks to set-ups like our much-loved Players and Intimate Theatre, and it seems to be Dan Branch’s Different Animal which tonight laid down a new template of excellence many so-called professional outfits doing the rounds would strain to emulate.
For sheer inventiveness and superb stagecraft this production set standards rarely seen on stages outside the huge subsidised companies. First and foremost among the company’s strengths is its marvellous casting where a role-call of superbly gifted actors are each able to portray a kaleidoscopic range of characters on the turn of a heel or the toss of a head. It’s quite impossible to give more than a tiny taste of the highlights in which literally dozens of moments delight.
Patrick Jervis as the seemingly silly-ass upper-class Richard Hannay whose blood nevertheless runs hot and red is quite simply perfect in the energetic role of a true Englishman abroad whose sheer uprightness necessarily makes him a target for the ladies.
Lucy Pearson as his love interest and almost every other female character of interest seems to me to be a new star, her elfin perfection exactly evoking the Madeleine Carroll loveliness seen in Hitchcock’s sexy version of this story.
Stefan Dufaye excels his illustrious past performances as just about everything from an incomprehensible Highland landlord to The Memory Man, keeper of the secret of the Thirty Nine Steps in an evening so energetic it would leave a lesser man resting in hospital.
Terry Sharrock surprises again and again in a kaleidoscope of roles ranging from the unctuous host of the London Palladium via a Hitleresque visionary German to an unforgettable Highland landlady, while the indispensable Annie Blackwell as the Stage Manager finally gets her moment onstage as a not-very-good mime.
Channelling every genre from The League Of Gentlemen to Hitchcockian porn Mr. Branch has the ability to tap into live theatre’s true magic. If you too love theatre, catch this production before it disappears forever.
The 39 Steps runs until September 22. For tickets phone the box office on 01543 412121 or go online at www.lichfieldgarrick.com.
