THINIMAGE
May 1984

Cumbernauld News - 5th April 1984 “Thinimage production carries a lot of weight!”   1 | 2 | Top

I have to admit I didn’t think I was going to like Cumbernauld Youth Theatre’s production of “thinimage”, a show which deals with the problems of the slimmers disease, anorexia nervosa.

And for half-an-hour, I was right. But then, a slow moving and uninteresting show turned into on of the best production this reviews has seen over the years – and not only at Cumbernauld Theatre!

Some dynamic performance, an excellent script and unbelievable music all combined to give the sizeable audience two-and-a-half hours of top-class entertainment.

I honestly wonder where you could find a better night’s entertainment. In particular Jim Prime’s music and John Haswell’s lyrics would be hard to beat. A hundred time better than the pretentious Lloyd Webber and Rice!

It was a story which dealt sensibly and touchingly with the problems of anorexia written by John Haswell, who also directed. The story took a while to get going and in that opening spell, as the foundations were laid, it didn’t seem to be that interesting.

I can’t help emphasising however, that the rest of the show was brilliant.

Sue Clark in the role of Mary the anorexic, took on a demanding role well. She was hardly ever off the stage.

As the problem became worse Sue portrayed the traumas with real ability and deserves a lot of praise for her first-class performance.

Around her were over 20 actors and actresses and Offspring, the musical group. Great performances came from Kate Cook as Cathy and Audrey Greer as Mary’s mother.

Kate was beautifully relaxed and convincing as Mary’s sympathetic but confused friend, unable to identify the problems facing her pal. It’s good to see a talent like hers being used so well.

Audrey Greer faced up to the part of the distraught mother, concerned at her daughter’s condition but completely helpless to cure something she doesn’t understand.

David Johnston as the father come across well. He was equally helpless in the face of his daughter’s illness.

The role of the doctor, played by Ralph Haggerty, was important. He was the only one who came close to finding what made a normal, outwardly content teenage girl suddenly stop eating and losing weight. Ralph belied his years as he gave an excellent portrayal of the doctor, watching over the last few months of Mary’s life.

MISGUIDED

Other excellent performances came from Tony Griffin a James and Bill Petrie as the priest, wanting to help, but misguided in his efforts to cure Mary.

Emma Riddell as Penny Shaw came close to putting her finger on the reasons for Mary’s problems. A male-orientated society, Images of being thin and advertising which portrays every girls as a slim seductress.

I particularly like the five minutes in which Lara Bowen convinced everyone she was Mary’s granny, a difficult task for a teenager.

A very special mention must go to Offspring and Jim Prime in particular. They provided the music in true Rocky Horror fashion, were outrageously made up (sic).

Each song came in at exactly the right moment and complemented the story. The music was outstanding, beautifully written by Jim Prime and ell-played.

Jim Prime is one of the best musical talents in the area and Cumbernauld is lucky to have the use of his talents just now. He’ll be much in demand in the future.

Ramon Griffin and Marianne Kerr were wonderful as the two main singers in the band, and they were ably assisted by Andy Unger, also on vocals. Ramon, in particular caught my attention.

He was tender and quiet when he need to be, but powerful when it was called for. Marianne’s voice was soaringly beautiful and a perfect way to put across some of the feelings in the show.

In the end, Mary dies, alone and misunderstood, or so she believes. Unable to trust anyone, even her parents, she leaves the hospital and dies among the dustbins on a cold night. The song at this point was the best in the show, capturing the mood perfectly.

John Haswell deserves lots of congratulations for continuing the Youth Theatre’s fine run on top-class performances. In an original and entertaining work he’s proved that with a bunch of talented youngsters he can do almost anything.

We’re luck to have so many budding Oscar-winners in the New Town. I hope it won’t be too long before we see them again. Well done!

Times Educational supplement – April 6^th 1984 “Haswell’s DIY disease”
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John Haswell, director of Cumbernauld Youth Theatre, is not a man given to the soft sell. He recruits his company with Churchillian invitations to “work hard, make huge sacrifices in time and effort, and give body and soul”. No surprise, then, that Thinimage, the latest production, had on its opening night a rock-hard discipline to match its zealous enthusiasm.

The idea for a play cam after the dramatization of ‘A tale of Two Cities’, when one of the cast aid something like “very nice, but can’t we do something more relevant”. A paragraph in the morning paper about a Scottish singer retuning home to be treated for anorexia nervosa was the cue, and the developed a play about Mary, aged 16, a sufferer from the many offered by the world about us.

The Cumbernauld Heroine trod the middle ground with those who reject adolescence, sexuality and the adult world by starving themselves back into childhood, all the time clutching to their think bosoms the belief that they are fat.

It may be a lonely illness, but it is noisy. Arguments abound as the daughter refuses her mother’s cooking, rejects invitations to parties, Christmas dinner, lunch with friends. As much anger is turned inward.

The difficulties are obvious. Re-search is effectively limited to “fat is a feminist issue” and the relevant entries in medical encyclopaedias. Anorexics tend not to admit that they have the disease, even if they are dying of it, a dramatic situation rather like a ‘Hamlet’ where the hero refuses even to go and see his father’s ghost.

Despite these considerable drawbacks, the youth theatre succeed in creating a moving and engrossing production. Mary, the central character wears a white, hospital night-dress – the other 25 players are in black with white masks. As an anonymous group they swarm through her nightmares, stare at her in the street, torment her in the school yard and classroom.

Marvellous use is made of nursery rhymes and children’s chants, eerily pointed at the aspect of her fears. It is the most primitive form of Greek drama, a protagonist and a chorus, but even if the Greeks had a work for anorexia I doubt if Thespis used the form to more effect in showing the isolation of one so alienated from the world.

The text is taut, honest and ruthlessly frank, and blows like a clean wind over an illness that thrives and festers in secrecy. It is excellent educational theatre in that it informs the mid and the heard in the moment. Three performances in the Cumbernauld Theatre are not enough. Some college of university audio-visual department should make a video of the production. It could then be used on teacher training courses and in school health education and shown at parent-teacher meetings.

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