REVIEWS REVIEWS
The Holy Terror is a showcase for the talents of Simon Callow. Indeed, it
provides him with plenty of opportunity to demonstrate his skills because he
is on stage for every second of the two-plus hours of this play. Why writer
Simon Gray has titled this play The Holy Terror is unclear. There is
nothing either religious or terrifying about it.
Simon Callow plays Mark Melon. The play opens with Melon introducing himself
as the guest speaker at a Women’s Institute lecture in Chichester. His story
is told through a series of flashbacks, punctuated by excerpts from his
lecture. The successful head of a well established and traditional book
publishing company, Melon took advantage of the vulnerable, played spiteful
tricks on his colleagues, and cheated on his wife. The second act takes an
obscure turn when Melon descends into madness and paranoia before his wife
takes him to an asylum for treatment.
Callow makes a very decent attempt at bringing life and humour to Mark Melon
and he brings energy and enthusiasm to many of the scenes. A cast of six
actors make the most of their supporting roles, but they are not given the
opportunity to develop into anything more than wooden stereotypes. His wife
Kate, played by Geraldine Alexander, is believable as a schoolteacher but
remains two dimensional. We are not presented with any clues to help us
understand why she puts up with Mark for so long once he has gone crazy,
particularly considering that his paranoia is directed toward her. Matt
Canavan really stands out as Mark’s son. He has little stage time, but he
plays the typical teenager to perfection.
The set by Es Devlin is imaginative; the walls and floor are papered with
yellowed book pages. The costumes, by Costume Supervisor Fizz Jones, are
perfectly suited to the characters and are a great aid to understanding
their circumstances and personalities given the little stage time that the
supporting actors receive. The Holy Terror is an unusual new play that
questions our relationships with those that are closest to us, and why it is
often the people that we love most that we also hurt the most. © MW
“The Holy Terror” is in Richmond on the 16th of February until the 21th of February, 2004 then touring.
