Old Buckenham blog: Review of Old Buckenham's 'Horse Play'
Moving story of a Norwich horse
One member of the audience who was at the Village Hall last Friday has provided this review of Horse Play which was performed at the hall that evening.
What a surprising performance this was! I don’tthink the audience expected a working television screen to appear on the backof the set or for part of it to open for a horse to poke his long brown headout and then proceed to speak! The play, written by Katie-Anna Whiting andperformed by her and fellow actor Florence Wright, continued to surprise as wewatched their portrayal of different characters, their accents and turns ofphrase as they unfolded the story of Sprowston Boy. We knew of course that Sprowie would win at RoyalAscot but we were led to his glorious achievement through an outline of man’slong relationship to the horse, into the vagaries of race course betting,including a lesson on what to look for in a good steed and how the going of thetrack helps or hinders the racers.
The set proved a most ingenious means of framingthe action, with its TV screen, its use of press cuttings, its multipleopenings and use of race track rails. The lighting and sounds were slicklyco-ordinated to showcase the action on stage, a tribute to Tom, the technicalcontroller. Katie and Florence carried the action on stage withconfidence in their various roles and the appropriate language of racecommentators, trainers, punters, patronising fellow jockeys, all withunderstated humour. Most touching of all was Katie’s portrayal ofGeoff, her grandfather, a wise and kindly figure brought to life.
This was no feminist vehicle but all the morepowerful for highlighting the poor treatment female riders were subjected to ina male-dominated business. Gay won her race but decades had to pass beforeanother female proved victorious. The appeal of the tale drew much power from itscloseness to our region and to the writer’s grandfather who part-ownedSprowston Boy. A proud moment for her to celebrate a remarkable man who visitedhis mount every day, long after his Ascot triumph.
'Horse Play' continues its tour of East Anglianvenues, supported by the Arts Council, Norfolk Arts Awards and with originalmusic by Skinny Boy Tunes, directed Daniel Burgess, designed by Fern Blevinsand produced by Zannie Fraser.
