Dangerous Corner
★★★★☆ Absorbing
Assembly Roxy: Tues 15 – Sat 19 Oct 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
The Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group’s production of J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, upstairs at the Assembly Roxy until Saturday, is a tense affair, well staged and compelling.
Priestley’s 1932 drama shows a country house party with a group of self-satisfied individuals whose cosy world starts to be undermined by a series of revelations. Host Robert Caplan is determined to get at the truth when new facts emerge about his brother’s suicide and the publishing firm that connects everyone at the gathering. But often it is better to let sleeping dogs lie…
James Gray (Robert Caplan) EGTG’ Dangerous Corner. Pic: Kate Stephenson
This is sometimes bracketed with his ‘time’ plays, which deal with the idea that time is not necessarily linear. In truth, the exploration of time is but a small part of the play, which is essentially a melodrama with some tricksy business at the end.
Priestley was later somewhat dismissive of the work, having written it quickly and essentially as an experiment to see if he could move from novels to the theatre. You can easily see why An Inspector Calls (which bears some similarities to this) is more often revived, but Corner remains an economically structured piece that can still satisfy theatrically.
taut and well judged
Which is helped greatly on this occasion by Martin Foreman’s direction. This is a taut and well judged production, where all of the cast know exactly what they are doing. In plays like this – which have huge stretches consisting of people sitting in a row talking to each other – cast and audience can let their attention drift.
Cari Silver (Frieda Caplin) and Torya Hughes (Olwen Peel) in EGTG’s Dangerous Corner Pic Kate Stephenson
This doesn’t happen here; everyone is acting just as much when they aren’t speaking as when they are, which is a lot rarer than might be supposed. The result is extremely convincing, even when some of the more unlikely coincidences and intrigues are revealed.
James Gray plays Robert Caplan with a fine combination of outward stiff upper lip and inner turmoil. All of the characters are presented as repressing their emotions almost completely, with anyone betraying the slightest hint of passion immediately branded ‘hysterical’. This makes the performers’ task very difficult, but they all manage it admirably – none more so than Cari Silver as Robert’s wife Frieda, whose glacial indifference and secret longings are excellently portrayed.
perpetually disappointed
Paul Wilson, as the apparently urbane Charles Stanton, and Torya Hughes, as the perpetually disappointed Olwen Peel, also manage the difficult task of appearing every inch the civilised member of polite society while deep down feeling anything but.
Gracie Roxburgh and Jed Bury in EGTG’s Dangerous Corner. Pic: Kate Stephenson
Jed Bury and Gracie Roxburgh are the more flighty Whitehouses, who are younger and so more likely to be excused the odd outburst of emotion. Roxburgh’s troubled Betty is well judged, while Bury’s Gordon seems a little out of place as the play starts, but settles down into a persuasive characterisation.
Beverley Wright’s waspish novelist Maud Mockridge is so enjoyable that her absence from most of the play is felt.
carefully considered
The pacing and staging are carefully considered. At times it verges on the stately; something that is occasionally affected by the commendable desire to keep up the impressive cut-glass accents. The fact that this is an old-fashioned three-act play, complete with two intervals, does not help with the momentum, but on the whole the rhythm that is achieved is commendable.
Paul Wilson in EGTG’s Dangerous Corner. Pic: Kate Stephenson.
That rhythm is broken up a little by some full-blown Strange Interludes where the characters address the audience directly. These do not quite come off, but act as a showcase for Dug Campbell’s atmospheric sound design and Gordon Hughes’s pinpoint lighting – both of which are outstanding throughout.
The wonderfully sturdy and detailed set, by Michael Mulligan and Richard Spiers, and Kate Stephenson’s excellent costumes, create considerable atmosphere. This helps with what is a coherent and impressive production.
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes including two intervals
Assembly Roxy Upstairs, 2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU
Tuesday 15 – Saturday 18 October 2024
Daily at 7.30 pm
Details and tickets: Book here.
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EGTG Dangerous Corner CAST _ Jed Bury, Gracie Roxburgh, Cari Silver, Beverley Wright, James Gray, Torya Hughes, Paul Wilson. Pic: Kate Stephenson
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