LAWRENCE Barker (inset) is a skilled actor and a thoughtful director. Little wonder then that he has relished the challenge of Amy’s View, a complex theatre piece by one of the country’s top contemporary writers, David Hare.
Hare’s work is never less than challenging but even someone as experienced as Lawrence must have found his task, as director of Huddersfield Thespians’ latest show, a tough call.
Two of his cast have had to be replaced in recent weeks because of health problems and as director, Lawrence has been the one to lead the hard work in getting replacements Jenny Goodison and Veronica Moran up to speed.
Rehearsals have been tough, particularly for Jenny, last seen as Clare in the show, Proof. She’s got the title role of Amy, the daughter in this powerful piece which looks at a mother-daughter relationship over a span of 20 years.
The play, first seen in 1997, opens at the Lawrence Batley Theatre on Tuesday and runs each evening on the theatre’s main stage at 7.30pm.
On the West End stage, it made headlines, not least because it featured the stellar acting talent of Judi Dench as widowed mother Esme and Samantha Bond as Amy.
But this is a piece which has much to offer any company of actors and any audience.
It is, says Lawrence, a play about love and is extremely well crafted and constructed.
But he also says that Hare leads his audience down paths in this relationship that they might not expect.
A family saga? A view of the changing position of women in society? A close-up look at a mother and daughter relationship?
Judge for yourself in this latest Thespian production which fields a strong cast featuring Christine Davies as Esme whose scene stealing performance as Olive Braddock in The Graduate will be remembered by many.
Alun Jones makes a welcome return to the Thespians to play Frank while Dean Robson, part of an excellent trio of young performers in a well received production of Teechers, is Amy’s boyfriend, Dominic.
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