Review: LUDS Presents Of Mice and Men

With a string of well-received performances behind them, LUDS’ production of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is one which sets out high expectations.

As a whole the performers are extremely strong, and perfectly cast. The central partnership of Greg Vicary’s George and Christian Darnell’s Lennie works phenomenally, with a restrained and mature portrayal from the former perfectly complementing Darnell’s endearing and stand-out performance.

Along with Darnell, Katie Overbury’s performance is similarly stellar. As the only female member of the cast, she stands out as arguably the most theatrically accomplished amongst them, and is more than deserving of an emphatic crowd reception come the conclusion.

Steinbeck’s masterpiece is a play that revolves around subtlety of characterisation and a gentle build of pace before a cataclysmic conclusion, and the onus is very much on the cast to make such a play consistently watchable, without wavering in pace.

Unfortunately it is here that the play begins to falter. Though the cast perform admirably, with certain members worthy of high praise, at over two hours long the play often drags.

Transitions between scenes are extremely slow, despite filling music by Tab favourites Great Plain Sundance, and the play rests too much on silences. Silence is of course fundamental to theatrical tension, but when overused as much as in this production, it only serves to frustratingly elongate what really needs to be a much tighter production.

While the play itself doesn’t quite hold up as an exceptional production, it does however exhibit some exceptional actors. While some American accents might be a bit better than others, none of the cast really lets their colleagues down, and the night still serves for an enjoyable one, even if it’s not quite the play it could have been.

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