Playboy of the Western World

If I am unable to see or hear most of a play I get angry. If I am forced to give up a good seat in the circle to sit in a drafty seat at the back of the stalls I get angrier. So you will appreciate the fact that I did not enjoy the C.A.S. production of Synge's "Playboy of the Western World." The setting, which was designed to "liberate" the words (from what?), reminded me of a dilapidated coffee-bar, which has all the trimmings, fishing nets and unvarnished wood, save the coffee machine. What merit the production might have had was lost on me. The play was, despite the poor acting and set, as Synge wrote it.

At first I thought the director, Ronald Barker, was producing unusual plays and doing them in unventional styles to stimulate an interest in the theatre. But I very much doubt if he will get an interested and caring public by too many unconventional methods of production which lack artistry. There comes a time when being unconventional for the sake of being unconventional in the theatre becomes a bore.