North Country Theatre returned to the Helmsley Arts Centre last night (Saturday) with their 2011 touring roduction of The Rocking Horse Winner.
Based on a short story of the same name by D.H. Lawrence, the play follows the fortunes of Paul, a child of uncaring spendthrift parents, whose rocking horse inexplicably gives him the names of winning horses. He makes a fortune, but loses his mind.
The story itself was not particularly gripping, though it may have more appeal if you fancy a flutter yourself. But Artistic Director Nobby Dimon brought his usual imagination and flair to a production which fairly raced along. In particular, he managed, with four actors, a sound track and a bit of projection, to create the excitement of a race meeting as we watched.
Veteran of seven previous North Country productions, Mark Cronfield, had the unenviable task of playing the boy Paul, which he did superbly, with support from other members of the company who have visited Helmsley before, Victoria Brazier (whom many will remember as the brilliant Princess Flavia in ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’) as his mother, Simon Kirk as his uncle, and Thomas Frere as the family gardener and placer of bets. Nobby himself made a welcome return to the stage as the psychiatrist who tried, unsuccessfully, to figure it all out.
In true NCT style, this was ‘a one night stand’, but you can still catch the production, which runs until December 10, at other theatres in the area. Dates and venues are on their website.
At the end of the performance, Nobby reminded the audience that the company had lost the whole of its Arts Council grant in the recent cuts, and so was more dependent than ever on ticket sales, and on supporters joining the Friends group, details of which can be found on the website. Please help to keep this great rural touring company in business.
Sneak preview: the 2012 production will be based on J.S. Fletcher’s Lighthouse on Shivering Sands. The story begins: “When Mordecai Chiddock came to join the lighthouse staff on Shivering Sand, Jezreel Cornish was taking his allowance of sleep, and Chiddock, being new to the place, did not know who it was he would meet when Cornish woke up. Otherwise, the boat which had brought him and a month's provisions over from the mainland would never have gone back without him……”.
