Macready!

A little jewel of a piece

William Macready is one of the nineteenth century theatrical greats, heavily influenced when young by a Sarah Siddons already at the height of her skills.

His story, as a one man show, is told by writer/ performer Mark Stratford – who manages to segue from narrator to Macready via a bevy of supporting characters.

He also manages to catch the anguish (at times) of a private person who blossoms on the stage, but who is (caught from his theatre manager father?) a theatrical obsessive – if not wholly inventing then perfecting a realistic style where the actor feels and lives the character being portrayed, rather than telegraphing emotions through stock (and otherwise unfelt) gestures.

William Macready was clearly a hard task-master as he became a theatrical manager as well as a leading actor, demanding full rehearsals from everyone, demanding ensemble acting and reverting to the full Shakespearean texts of the classics rather than their re-written shades.

As a man Macready did not enjoy the company of fellow thespians, and indeed one of his closest friends was Charles Dickens, although he was generally a shy man.

One man shows are tricky, and particularly when most of the drama portrayed is actually ‘drama’, but Stratford occupies a small stage admirably, his movements round it natural, but cleverly using at times a chair to stand on when performing ‘a performance’ to indicate the distancing an actor has from his audience.

The play is without a break, which is an ask of itself of the performer, but not, in this case, of the audience – we seemed to enjoy it, and the smallness of the Jack Studio Theatre enhanced its intimacy. Only playing here until the end of the week, but in Mark Stratford’s repertoire, and if you see it advertised locally, try it out.