The Clouded Crystal
Reviewed by Ray Jones-Davies for The Croydon Advertiser
Little dabble in the occult
For their latest offering the Theatre Workshop Coulsdon took a trip into the realms of the supernatural with “The Clouded crystal” by Norman Holland and the premiere of “The Inn,” written by one of their own members Richard Lloyd.
Unfortunately, with a total running time of just over one hour, the two plays did little more than whet the appetite.
The former, in particular, failed to create an aura of suspense. A somewhat trite tale, it told of a fake medium’s encounter with an increasingly suspicious client, only for us to discover at the climax that she possessed true occult powers of which she had been previously unaware.
I feel that producer Jan Woolgar should have pointed the medium’s foreboding and used it as a basis for alerting the audience to the fact that something strange, if not sinister, was about to happen. (Carefully selected background music would have done the trick).
Lesley Argles, as the medium, did not differentiate between the true and the fake, leaving it all to special effects, (which were nicely done), and consequently robbed herself of some of the role’s potential.
Liz Sutton gave a very mature and well-defined portrayal of her partner and confidante.
Cast Details:
Freda Hartz
Lesley Argles
Edith Marsh
Wendy Cole
Ruth Denville
Liz Sutton
Chloe Sherman
Zakka
Maisie Thurston
Claudia Dean
Mrs Baynton
Maureen White
Technical Crew Details:
Director
Jan Woolgar
Assistant Director
Wendy Cole
Sound
John Wooden
Lights
Jeremy Simms
Special Effects
Lee Wilkinson
Dry Ice
Mike Bramwell
Curtains
Helen Wooden