3 Star ***

There are advantages and disadvantages in taking a literary classic and adapting it to the confines of a small acting space and obviously the time restraints that are imposed on companies during the Fringe.

This young company took the D.H. Lawrence classic Woman in Love and gave their interpretation of the tangled lives of sisters Ursula and Gudren Brangwen and their loves Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich together with the peripheral characters that they encounter.

The advantage of a piece like this is that a high percentage of the audience are aware of the source material, but that can also be a disadvantage too.

The six actors Ella Thackery, Lauren Hyett, Francis Parham Tim Kiely, Fiona Guest and Rupert Snellgrove turn in competent enough performances throughout and the use of each taking on the role of narrator at times moved the plot along nicely.

Disadvantaged by a acting area that gave little scope for complex lighting plots, some scenes were unable to be lit well and the floor level stage would stop all but the front row seeing most low level action.

The major disappointment in this piece for me was that something major was missing and that was passion. I fell that the Lawrence original was brimming with it, yet this adaptation was devoid of real emotion and at times and came over rather bland.

Reviewed by Geoff

The Spaces on The Mile V 39

5- 20 August ( not 7, 14)

18:10-19:25

Fringe Programme P 295