Dangerous Corner (1)

Bruce James Productions at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft

Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 7 September 2006

Dangerous Corner

Another offering by Bruce James Productions in the Marina Theatre’s long-term project to bring quality drama to the stage, sees this JB Priestly classic given a successful outing.

One of his renowned ‘time plays’, it’s an absorbing tale based on the notion that if one simple thing had distracted somebody – a piece of dance music played instead of an inquiry into the link of a music box to a suicide – then subsequent history would have been different.

Nobody would be any wiser about the lies and deceit everyone covered up.

It is not such a new idea these days, but must have been almost revolutionary when it was written. This rendition keeps much of the 1930s feel, the cut-glass accents and people ‘talking rot’ within an after-dinner setting in a grand drawing room.

However, the producer has sharpened it up with overlapping dialogue in the arguments to raise tension and give it a more naturalistic, less stylised atmosphere.

The effect works to draw the audience in, intrigued as revelation is piled on twist. While characters crack under the strain, truth, as so often, is the victim.

It’s not so much that we care for the characters, but the effective dramatisation of a timeslip makes for an enjoyable evening’s entertainment with that extra pause for thought about the real nature of time.