By Ernest Kearney — Adam Peck, who works with the Old Vic in Bristol, seems to be drawn to subjects laden with the mystique of mythos. One such example was his Minotaur, a work that served to examine not the bull-headed monster, but the mystery of the Labyrinth. Bonnie & Clyde also brushes aside the legendary elements of the Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow story, putting its focus instead on a far greater mystery; the dynamics of the human heart.
The play opens with a mournful tune by composer Ben Champion played by Karolina Naziemiec on violin.
It sets the mood perfectly for what’s to come.
On the run from the law, holding up in a barn, both Bonnie Parker (Claire Bronchick) and Clyde Barrow (Joel Sutton) are showing the cost of their lawless lives. Clyde is wounded in his shoulder; Bonnie’s leg has been severely burned from an earlier car crash she was involved in.
Here they are not the iconic couple made famous by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in the 1967 film, or the devil may care pair seen in the famous photos. Here they are two people aware of the dark fate they’re facing and trying their best to shut it out.
Sutton and Bronchick capture the simplicity of the characters and the unspoken desperation of their situation.
It is a play that demands a nuanced undertow in every word spoken and moments passed, and asides by Clyde function in the fashion of a Greek Chorus warning of the fate awaiting them.
Making his directorial debut here, Andrew Leeson does not have the needed tools that come only from experience to serve the demands of this work. Still, he shows a sure hand, and the ability to work with actors.
A SILVER MEDAL.
♦ ♦ ♦
Bonnie & Clyde
Ran During The Fringe 2017
at
The Hudson Theatre
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