Terry Pratchett's Interesting Times by Purple Theatre Company

The Compass Theatre, Ickenham

A companion of mine remarked after her first encounter with the world of Terry Pratchett that trying to describe the Discworld phenomenon makes it sound less funny than it actually is.

  The same could be said of this production on Friday, May 2, so it might be safer to say the plot involves Rincewind (Andy Rathbone) the cowardly wizard who gets mixed up in a bid to overthrow the emperor of the Agatean empire by the revolutionaries called the Red Army.

  He is aided and hindered by a hilarious motley crew of ageing barbarians called the Silver Hoard (and ancient) Ghenghis Cohen (Peter Burnett).

  The actors portying both these leading characters played their parts with the kind of comedy which draws parallels with Monty Python and Blackadder.

  Fine performances radiated from each of the 21 strong cast, many of whom have at least 4 or more characters to take on and the laughs came thick and fast as the story unfolded.

  Alex Mileman oozed caddish charm as the scheming Lord Hong , while Brett Alderton showed a range of talents in his turns as a number of characters including the Dean.

  The female cast members; Bridget Goddard, Joanne Reeves-Baker (who also directed the play), Miranda Kirschel, Susie Bird, Julie Morley, Elaine Hotchkiss, Chrisa Constantinou and Sylvia Talyor, were excellent in bringing most of the Red Army, servents and Barbarians to life, while the later was fantastic in her dual role as the Orang-utan Librarian.

  Grant Wilcox looked very much at home as the pipe smoking, tweed jacketed Ronald Saveloy (Teach) who tries to turn the Barbarians into civil men.

  But Daniel Rodrigues stole the show with his performance as the cackling wheelchar-bound Mad Hamish.

  Scott Wagstaff as Boy Willie and Toby Vennard as Caleb the Ripper completed the barbarians crew with good humour and fine acting as did Phil Burton and Rez Mossavat as members of the Unseen University's teaching staff.

  Craig Cammeron-Fisher and Hans van der Welle obviously loved playing tough guys in their roles as Long Fang and Lord Tang.

  Finally Simon Driscoll in his first purple production made a great start to his career as Twoflower the man whose book incites th revolution.

  As a long-time fan of Pratchett's work I was pleased to see just how well his stories can be turned into plays.

  Credit for this sucess has to go to everyone involved in what was a thoroughly enjoyable and well performed production.

  Chris Longhurst

  Uxbridge Gazette 14th May 2003