Our reporter Gill James reviews The Bat at the New Adelphi Studio, on the University of Salford campus.
The New Adelphi Theatre is an exciting space on the campus of the University of Safford and so it was rewarding to be invited to its studio, with its classic black box performance space to watch an interpretation of Krisztina Tóth’s story of a child who loses his favourite toy, Bob the Bat.
Was he mislaid? Was he stolen? And does this lead to a mother’s revenge? Does her paranoia come just from this situation or is there something much deeper going on?
And what happens at the end? The audience were asked to vote and the main actor was asked for her opinion. I’m pleased to say that I agreed with her. I won’t say what she said because that would be a spoiler.
All of the female parts – nursery teacher, mother, psychologist and the voice of the grandmother were played by one actor and the two male roles – father and policeman, were played by a male actor. This was important for the playwright. There was also the son, Lalika, played be a female actor.
Translator and director Szilvi Naray states she has not tried to domesticise this version of the play. Indeed it is true that we have to confront another culture where children are at nursery school until they are six, where Kevin is an exotic name, and where salad is made from celeriac. Yet the English is every day and relates to what we understand.
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