Viewers will taste the macabre
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from July 1993.
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The play is set in an isolated, 19th century cottage which has recently been renovated. Edmund and Rachel, the proud new owners of the cottage, are entertaining their friends Dan and Margaret, who are staying for Christmas dinner.
The meal turns out to be not quite the festive, jolly affair one associates with the season, and it is not long before the couples start experiencing unusual happenings. Suddenly, the power is cut off, and, as Edmund (played by Kevin O'Riordan) points out, the telephone is also dead.
Very soon, other even more unnerving events takes place, and it is not long before the couples find themselves in the grip of something more sinister than a run-of-the mill power-cut. They are virtually prisoners of the cottage.
Directed by Tony Rowlands and Don Kisson, the small cast cope well with the difficulties imposed on them by the script, and it must be said that given the short time they had to prepare, they all came up trumps. All were equally convincing in their parts, although Margaret (Linda O'Riordan) was often found to be facing upstage, with her back to a large part of the audience, making it dif-Cont'd on page A5 from page A4
ficult to hear her. This was a pity, because she was most natural playing the part of a wife who finds her husband's pompous and rather overbearing attitudes ridiculous, and takes delight in bringing him down to size.
Andrew Le Brun, as Margaret's husband Dan, was fluent and believable in his part as a man to whom depth of thought was almost always abandoned in favour of the bottle.
Special mention should be made of Marilyn Osborne in the part of Rachel, who came into her own in the latter stage of the play. She gave a moving, mysterious performance saying anything else would be giving away too much.
Kevin O'Riordan was suitably ponderous as Edmund, son of a working class Socialist trying to justify his move into the world of the affluent.
The set builders can be congratulated on their work, which was splendid and gave a real feeling of an English country cottage. On the whole the evening was very enjoyable and worthwhile. Once again the Cayman Drama Society made a good job out of a difficult piece, which could easily have fallen into the ranks of melodrama if it was not for the professionalism of the cast and production crew.
"The Exorcism" can be seen at the Prospect Playhouse tonight (Friday) and Saturday night only. Shows start at 8p.m. and tickets are $12 adults.
