Of Mice and Men, Palace Theatre
STUDENTS were left captivated last Thursday (October 15) when they were treated to this stunning performance by All and Sundry theatre company.
Turned into a play by George S Kaufman, the production came close to winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the novel itself, set during the Great Depression in California, has been on the English teaching curriculum for years.
As the curtain went up the audience were greeted with the backs of lead characters Lennie Small and George Milton – played by Mike Richardson and John Aubrey.
The set was beautiful in its simplicity and the American accents – particularly John Aubrey’s – were spot on.
But the star of the show was Mike Richardson, who captured the bumbling uncertainty and childlike wonder of lumbering Lennie perfectly.
I was blown away by the way Mike adopted Lennie’s idiosyncrasies. He walked the fine line between making the audience laugh but not edging in to ridicule perfectly.
Director Vanessa Morgan said: “This is my first main production and, without blowing my own trumpet, I am very pleased and quite proud of myself.
“I was a bit nervous but I had some wonderful help with the lighting and sound and it was great to see my ideas come to fruition.”
