“Supremely imaginative..” A review of Hardboiled at Brill Memorial Hall

25 June 2014

Another Winner From The Watermill Company – Hardboiled – The Fall of Sam Shadow

Question: how do you take a 9-metre square space plus four individuals and turn it into a recreation of film noir, with dozens of characters, a couple of murders and a convincing chase scene (inter alia)?

Answer: get the Rhum and Clay Theatre Company to devise a follow-up to last year’s tremendously successful Jekyll and Hyde production.

Their homage to Philip Marlow and his ilk was all too authentic, yet the basic story line came from little over a decade ago: the corporate greed and corruption of Enron, using black-outs in California, which cost over 50 lives, to ramp up their share price.

As always with The Watermill, supremely imaginative use of props and lighting created a multi-dimensional space that flitted between the gum-shoe’s office, a power station, the corrupt company boss’s stately residence, the police station, and once, a tube train at the end of a long chase scene.

It’s the choreography that makes the difference. Constant movement, action and changes of scene and character meant that the 90-minute production just flew by.

If you missed it, check out where else they’re touring with it as part of their annual outreach programme – or go see it at The Watermill itself. Worth every penny.

By Dave Croyden
Brill Memorial Hall