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Club Director's Notes

Sweeney Todd the Barber Semi Detached An Evening of Stoppard The Arsonists Man of the Moment Oh! What a Lovely War Only Free Men

• Only Free Men

• 4th Jul - 11th Jul
• Written by: V.R. Morse
• Directed by: V.R. Morse
• Performance Times: Sat 19:45, Mon 19:45, Tue 19:45, Wed 19:45, Thu 19:45, Fri 19:45, Sat 14:45, Sat 19:45

Review

This was a very strong presentation (and rightly so) for the 2009 Thomas Paine Festival. One only had to look at the programme cover to realise that the implications of this piece were going to be of a shocking psychological nature.

An excellent performance from James Firth-Haydon as Abe. This character must have been involved in 9/11 and was obviously still coming to terms with those terrible events. The question is: should he have been taking part in this interrogation in his state of mind? However, interrogator he certainly was and kept the proceedings going at a cracking pace.

A good performance also from Caroline Johannson as Abe’s interrogating partner, Diana. Sometimes, however, her words were lost maybe due to a tendency to lower her head. This certainly didn’t happen all the time and her strong character came through well.
Michael Fitzgerald as the Police Officer portrayed a touch of comedy regarding his bad feet! Almost a cameo part.

Phil Dunn as the suspect certainly used his right to freedom of speech and gave us all a lot to think about. He portrayed this character so well.
Christine Murphy as Control was the essence of control and her words near to the conclusion of the piece, “He must be guilty of something” gave us an uncomfortable feeling.

The “one violent act” was carried out very realistically and the plain set served well as a room where this type of interview (that’s a very bland word for what actually happened) takes place.
Thanks are due to the cast, the production team and of course, V R Morse, for bringing this thought provoking play to our attention, particularly in the times in which we live.

Brenda Gower Representative for the National Operatic & Dramatic Association