The Best Laid Plans...

Barley Field North Somerset

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Review

'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck

George and Lennie have a plan: they will save up their money from working on ranches and buy themselves a plot of land with their own cottage. Lennie’s only desire is to look after soft-furred rabbits. Despite his physical strength he has the simplicity of a child, two dangerous factors that George must control if their plan is to ever work. As it happens, things go awry.

The show itself is packed with understated and strong performances. George’s (Sam Cable) mixture of anxiety and frustration at his charge is vivid and believable, while the appearances of the various ranch hands—although brief—are perfectly formed and conveyed. Sadly, an announcement is made at the beginning of the play that the character of Crooks, the only black worker on the ranch, is to be played by a white actor (Dan Crooks). Suitable black actors are, so we are told, in short supply. But even this performance was credible as a disabled and ostracised man who resents being sidelined by society.

The direction and staging of the play complement perfectly the sparse script and toned-down story, allowing space for a fuller appreciation of the characters and their dilemmas. An excess of set detail or onstage business would have been terrifically distracting, and it wasn’t a mistake that this show made.

The final climax is emotive and tense. Slowly understanding that the world holds no place for either of them, George points a pistol at the back of his friend’s head. The shock concludes a simple but moving offering from Bedlam.

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