Press Cuttings and Reviews involving Chris

Soul Traders - Edinburgh Festival 2008The Scotsman  -  This 1960's-set musical features slick acting, strong singing and infectious choreography from every member of the company.

The Stage  -  ...split-second timing from a pair of reformed bankers...

 
Cinderella - Wyvern Theatre 2008 - Newbury Weekly News... ably assisted by Dandini (Chris Clarkson), who reminded me of Michael Crawford in Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em.

Cinderella - The Lowry 2005 - The Stage...Chris Clarkson makes his mark as Dandini...

The Machine Gunners - Edinburgh Festival 1997 - The Scotsman...including the lead Chris Clarkson's impressive portrayal of McGill...
 
Cinderella - Colne 2006 - The StageChris Clarkson interestingly plays Prince Charming as more of a bumbling fop than a sex symbol...

The Taming of the Shrew - UK Tour 2006 - Hexham CourantIn these days of impersonal technological wizardry there is something wonderful about the delights of raw unprocessed theatre... actors taking risks in real time with a live audience. There is nothing like it in the cultural field. At the most basic level even the field itself can be real. It was last week when Oddsocks performed Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew against the dramatic backdrop of Dilston Castle.

Oddsocks have been touring now for 12 years or more. They’ve performed 17 plays by Shakespeare and have become firm favourites in Tynedale. One of the events that now presages Christmas is an indoor performance at the Queen’s Hall – this year Twelfth Night for five nights.

But for me and others, the real thrill in the summer in the open air production which recaptures some of the essence of how Shakespeare’s plays were first performed – fast, furious and full of interaction with the audience and cross banter.

That love and loyalty were much tested last week. Not only did the performance we booked clash with an important World Cup game, but the weather went wild. Strong gusts of wind, scudding clouds and the sort of persistent drizzle that is wetter and more insidious than any other kind. But along went aficionados of the company, cluttered with chairs, champagne bottles and picnics. We met friends not seen elsewhere in the year. We were predisposed to enjoy ourselves before even the lights go on and the action begins.

So how was the play. Astonishingly brilliant. One distinguished professor insisted that its theme and language was “offensive to any civilised man, reading in his library”, forgetting that it was written not to be read but to be experienced in the theatre, where it consistently works. In recent time feminists have complained about the treatment of Katherine and especially at what they consider to be her final submission speech. But we the audience know that there has occurred an affirmation of mutual love and that the definitions of who is the tamer, who the tamed are now irrelevant.

In this production, the performance by Susie Riddell as Kate made this subtlety very clear. It was for all the apparent clowning, one of the best interpretations of the role I have seen in many years of theatre going. It was beautifully articulated and at times very moving.

She was well supported by an Oddsocks veteran Robert Laughlin as Petruchio. He has a lugubrious face whose meaning you can read at a distance. It would have been easy for him to dominate the stage, but generously he made space for his fellow actors. And they seized their opportunities. Kee Ramsorrun, all innocent naughtiness, is a firm favourite with audiences. Chris Clarkson played assorted suitors and servants with aplomb. Newcomer, Clara Darcy, made an impressively sharp debut as Bianca. I was struck too by the charm of Michael Lambourne who as Baptista, Grumio and others kept the narrative moving with great speed.

The sextet is, I think, the best balanced cast to be assembled by Oddsocks. As well as the sheer physicality of manoeuvring set and wagons, they spoke the cleverly adapted text with an intelligence, clarity, and audibility greater than that I’ve recently experienced at performances by the RSC and Northern Broadsides.

These actors deserve to go further in the most vulnerable of professions.

Presently there seems to be no working actor in the land who does not have to earn a crust making company training videos or commercials, playing role model games with disinterested middle managers or ticking boxes for SATs tests. Even Oddsocks are at the corporate game but in the end it’s not meaningful. There's no art in it. Just cash to balance the real life of being thespian rogues and vagabonds. If we don’t choose and use young actors we will lose them.

The greater part of the solution lies in the hands of audiences. Get out more to local theatres like the Queen’s Hall and support small touring companies. As Petruchio says at the end of his play: “Is not this well? Better once than never, for never too late.”

Twelfth Night - Edinburgh Festival 1996 - The Scotsman...there is a rather good Malvolio (Clarkson)...
The Ideal Gnome Expedition - Wellingborough 2002 - The Stage...Without a doubt, this is the Castle's most outstanding seasonal offering for several years ... Chris Clarkson - our friendly Securidog and even more incredibly and quite brilliantly, Wacker the road machine - gives two gems of performances...

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