Kaboodle, A View From the Bridge

Review in Issue 6-3 | Autumn 1994

Committed to bringing us ‘total theatre’ versions of established classics, including Shakespeare, Kaboodle have revived their 1991 production of A View from the Bridge. The performance had many positive qualities but fell short of its total experience aims. This was perhaps a problem inherent in trying to bring such an approach to the work of a playwright as wordy as Arthur Miller. Hearing the text of A View from the Bridge, one cannot help thinking what a perfect play it would make, visuals (apart from the infamous scene which so offended the Lord Chamberlain) being totally unnecessary to one's enjoyment and comprehension of the play. In the light of this, the physical style of a company like Kaboodle can only be the icing on the cake; in this case it was the filling, sandwiched between scenes, when the company evocatively brought to life the dockyard milieu of New York in the ‘forties’. Nonetheless the production and performances were strong, especially Steven Rayworth as Alfieri and Russ Edwards as Rodolpho. Lee Bagley's Eddie Carboni, whilst powerful, lacked range. For a company so devoted to the physical side of theatre, the fight between Eddie and Marco, the climax of the play, was disappointingly slack. Otherwise an enjoyable and worthwhile evening.

Presenting Artists
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Jun 1994

This article in the magazine

Issue 6-3
p. 23