Introduction

This was the first Terry Pratchett production given by the Hurstpierpoint Players, initially it ran over four nights and received three full house audiences. It was re-run for an additional two nights, the first performance to do so in the 70 year history of the players. I have been tracking this play since the beginning, the usual (and unusual) bodged lines excepted it was a teriffic performance and the quality surpassed my expectations.

Acting Performance

All the characters in the play were acted superbly, though for a Pratchett play it should come as no surprise that Death was the most memorable character, the outstanding personification towered above the other characters whilst the textured words captivated the audience.

Amazingly the part was played by three people; John Goodwin performed the velvet voice offstage which boomed and echoed through the theatre, Simon Collins appeared in costume giving the voice form. The director Tim Haws wore the costume briefly whilst Simon played the inept wizard Rincewind. The overall effect was outstanding, the character came across as larger than life, the presence filled the room with sound and dominated the stage in an manner appropriate for a character "more real than real".

Doug Ellingford played the title role extremely well and Isla Macfarlane acted the role of Ysabell faithfully. Rick Farmer was excellent as always, he adopted the perfect gait for Death's manservant, his secret alter ego the returning power-drunk Mage Alberto Mallich. Sarah Dyall played Princess Keli with characteristic grace and captured the queen's annoyance magnificently. Richard Taylor fitted the role of Cutwell the wizard with excellent intonation and an amazing set of eyebrows...

There were a number of supporting roles; John Kearnes, Jo Porter and Richard Coney performed a number of civic duties in Sto Lat and Ankh, John Goodwin returned as Abbot with the season ticket and in the rerun, Bob Sampson filled in as the Duke. The director Tim had a number of small roles in the first run, notably the door knocker and the evil Duke, though I think he will be remembered as the villian in this play ;)

Crew Performance

The Players employed simple but effective fore and aft staging, basic scenery concentrated the attention on the performances of the characters and appropriate use of ambient sound and lighting assisted in setting the scene without difficult scenery changes. The use of pyrotechnics punctuated magical effects and strobe lighting effects enhanced the action sequences.

At nearly a hundred changes the use of lighting was very impressive even more so when I learned that it was the first time Ian and Zoë had tackled a lighting design solo.

The skit given by the stage crew is not to be forgotten "The Mortified Players production of Dork" parodied the main attraction perhaps too perfectly (it was written in advance of the last night... deja vu?).

Closing remarks

This was a very encouraging production from the Players, it had a strong contingent of the youth of the theatre acting in the 'star roles' and their first visit into the Fantasy arena was enthusiastically received by all.

The attention to the small details meant that the play was laden with nice touches, the towering Death costume, the sword fight chimed every blow, glowing paint, death appeared at the bar in the interval to order a pint...

The production was a faithful dramatisation of the novel, though it is impossible to run this this play with all the scenes in the book intact the editing was done well and the plot was carried throughout.

All in all this was a very successful play, with memorable performances given by all. It is almost enevitable that the Players will return to the Discworld, I look forward to seeing them in the near future.

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