The Censor
by Anthony Neilson
21st - 23rd Oct 2004, MAC, Birmingham
16th Nov - 4th Dec 2004, Union Theatre, London
Director: Derek Bond
Designer: James Perkins
The Censor: Matthew Brockington
Miss Fontaine: Helen Blackmore
The Wife: Nicola Drinkwater
Poster
What the papers said:
The exceptionally talented Helen Blackmore plays Miss Fontaine and Matthew Brockington is superb as the seemingly innocent Censor. He plays the character with intense sensitivity and brings a feminine balance to the harshness of Miss Fontaine’s dominance. His wife, played by the stunning Nicola Drinkwater, and her infidelities are callous and insensitive. The Censor uses humour and the rhythmic juxtapositioning of scenes to emphasise its complex themes. The bounds between love and physicality are questioned and the result is both extremely hilarious and sexy.
Emma Whitelaw, indielondon.co.uk
This quirky, controversial curio expertly and believably combines the banal
with the outrageous. Well acted by the cast of three… a thought provoking
work that tackles the darker side of sexuality with sensitivity and humour.
Definitely worth seeing.
Sarah Monaghan, Theatreworld Internet Magazine
A superb in-yer-face production by director Derek Bond and his committed cast.
Aleks Sierz, inyerface-theatre.com
[The Censor] tackles the themes of love, porn and perception with in-yer-face gusto and imaginative flair. Director Derek Bond’s detailed and engrossing revival brings out the wit and economy of Neilson’s thought-provoking text, showing its flirty mix of sexual longing and fantasy clash with the painful realities of homelife… Bond rises to the challenges of staging one of the most explicit sex scenes in British drama.
Aleks Sierz, What’s On In London
Anthony Neilson’s X-rated play is notorious for a scene involving defecation onstage. The challenge for director Derek Bond is to make this beautiful, rather than seedy.
His production succeeds in taking us beyond the mere image and makes us question the censorship that at the outset seems no more than commonsense.
Arch advocate of the untrammelled is Helen Blackmore as Miss Fontaine, her powerful physical presence and thrusting sexual initiative is the perfect foil to Matthew Brockington as the slight, nervous, easily intimidated Censor, who manages to be at once pathetic and dignified. His aloof but not quite estranged wife is played laconically by Nicola Drinkwater.
A sound choice for this maiden production of Birmingham-based The Other Theatre Company and establishes the group’s capacity for courageous acting.
Barbara Lewis, The Stage
