An evening with Rebecca
11:19pm Wednesday 10th March 2010 in Theatre By Joanne Rowe
Rebecca.
The Marco Players.
Chorley Old Road Methodist Church Hall.
It was never going to be an easy act to follow. The 1930s classic Daphne du Maurier novel which became an Oscar winning Alfred Hitchcock film is loved by thousands, who all have their own views about the characters.
Director Martin Pearce was well aware of this when he took on the task of bringing this Clifford Williams adaptation to the stage.
Overall he does an admirable job, but there were missed opportunities to make more of such a promising script.
The story is well known. Wealthy Maxim de Winter brings his new bride home to Manderley, a grand house haunted by the memory of his late first wife, the beautiful but duplicitous Rebecca.
Housekeeper, the twisted Mrs Danvers devoted to her former mistress and played here by Carolyn Haslam comes across as unpleasant rather than sinister.
And the newly wed Mrs de Winter (Elinor Hamilton) initially takes timidness to such an extreme that you wonder what her husband ever saw in her.
The characters could have been more fully explored and helped by changes of pace in the first act.
The second act, and its crucial scene where Rebecca’s true nature is revealed is much better as Maxim (Steve Unsworth) is staggered by the lengths his late wife went to to try and destroy him from beyond the grave.
A lot of thought has also gone into the set, with Manderley’s grand staircase rising from the floor of the hall, where the audience sits around three sides of the set, onto the stage.
Altogether it was an enjoyable evening’s entertainment, even without the shiver up my spine due to an absence of real menace pervading the performance.
Runs until March 13
