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Reviewer:
Stephen Davenport
Date of Review:
12 Apr 2010
Live review: Unseen Academicals, Bakehouse Theatre
STEPHEN DAVENPORT
12 Apr, 2010 09:39 AM
Unseen Academicals is Terry Pratchett’s 37th Discworld novel. It’s not one of his best, so it comes as little surprise that Unseen Theatre’s stage presentation of the book isn’t one of its best.
Still, any Pratchett is better than none and the same goes for an Unseen play. There’s the usual humour, wisdom and passion in both book and production but not in the same quantity.
Director Pamela Munt is wonderful at staging the epic and ridiculous, and here she’s at the top of her game as she has her cast working their socks off to deliver an agreeable dramatisation. This is her 25th Pratchett play and every one has been rewarding and appreciated. Basically, an Unseen Theatre Company work is an event.
Paul messenger (Arch Chancellor Ridcully) and Philip Linton (the Patrician) are both solid in their performances as two of Ankh Morpork’s most powerful men. Both are encumbered with tiresome scene changes during the action. It’s attempted quietly but not exactly smoothly, so it’s distracting to the audience. That said, the entire ensemble has an engaging spirit and is at ease with its material and surroundings.
The plot is apparently about football, which is just like a war but without the kindness and consideration. However, the important thing about football is that it is never just about football.
Lord Vetinari wants to stop the mob violence by controlling the game. He suggests the physically underprivileged (but not undernourished) wizards of Unseen University create a team. Ridcully was just about to suggest the same thing. By tradition, if the faculty doesn’t play a game every 20 years it will forfeit a bequest that pays its humongous food bill. If it fails to play, it will be reduced to only three types of cheese after dinner.
The tale, of course, becomes absurdly comic and involves the world’s greatest supermodel, a superb pie cook, goblins, orcs and monsters such as fashion designers and footballers.
Unseen Academicals may not be in the premier league but it’s still fun and Unseen Theatre Company knows how to play the game. – At Bakehouse Theatre, until April 21
