Harvest Of Laughs On The Farm
The Age
Wednesday August 30, 2006
THEATRE REVIEW: HARVEST By Richard Bean, Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Rear 2A Chapel Street, St Kilda, until September 23. Running time: 150 minutes
THERE'S been much wailing and gnashing of teeth recently over the demise of the full-length play. If Richard Bean's Harvest is anything to go by, reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.The original London production weighed in at over three hours. But no one was counting the minutes or yenning to run off for an early tea.Harvest is the kind of comic banquet that will sate even the most jaded appetite, and Red Stitch has rehearsed it down to a slick two and a half, without losing a single sprig of parsley.Set on a Yorkshire farm, the action takes place in episodes strung out over the best part of a century. It begins on the eve of World War I, with two young brothers - William (David Whiteley) and Albert (Simon Wood) - vying to be chosen for the battlefields of the Somme; and ends, with a burglary in progress, in the very same kitchen in the computer age.It's a comedy that creeps up on you amid darkness and drama - the backdrop of two world wars, the Depression, social, economic and technological revolution; with a foreground that takes in the gamut of familial misfortune - maiming and infertility, poverty and thwarted romance, attempted rape and accidental death.But underneath the flesh of Bean's family saga lies a skeleton of dry wit. The playwright, who grew up in Hull, obviously has a great affection for these salt-of-the-earth Yorkshire farmers. And as the world churns around them, as they cope with change or fail to, the only things that remain unaltered by the passage of the years are their notoriously dour demeanours and peppery humour. While not all the acting talent is as lofty as the ambitiousness of the project, none of it is below par, and there are some outstanding performances.David Whiteley, whose character ages 90 years, is magnificent - as convincing in the earnestness of youth as he is as a doddering centagenarian. As his mam, Carol Yelland is the essence of a country mother. (She also plucks a mean chicken.) And Chris Connelly provides a hilarious cameo as the ribald farmhand Titch.Denis Moore's direction is wonderfully tight, maintains a fast dramatic flow, and refrains from milking any of the jokes. In a small space, set designer Peter Mumford manages to conjure the phases of the 20th century through a detailed set - and the make-up team work wonders ageing the cast.Harvest is the best production Red Stitch has mounted in some time. It's a finely crafted provincial picaresque - entertaining and incredibly funny - that will have you leaving the theatre elated.
© 2006 The Age