Review of 'The Highwayman' at C3 * *

'The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. '

Alfred Noyes 'The Higwayman' is a poem rich in dark and mysterious imagery. It's characters lay in streams of dramatic and dreamy verse. The Highwayman - our roving rider - comes chased and harried to the window of Bess, 'The landlord's black eyed daughter'. However, his wooing promises of return end in tragedy as King George's men come riding to the Inn, tieing up Bess and laying in wait. Bess, in order to warn her lover, shoots herself. But it's no use as our man is shot in the back as he turns to ride away.

Rachel Valentine-Smith's stage adaptation holds much promise and yet never quite delivers. We are introduced to Tim the Ostler, in love with Bess and yet 'as dumb as a dog'. His Iago-esque monologues suggest a deep melancholy of unrequited love and a relationship with The Highwayman of complexity and interest. Yet, this remains only as a wonderful potential as he fails to interact with anyone but the audience. It is a similar case with The Highwayman as his single scene fails to capture the depth which the poem gives him. Indeed, all of the characters are poorly drawn. Their brief interactions begging for more.

The performances throughout are good and an eerie atmosphere is maintained well. However, the actors are given so little to work with that they don't stand a chance of making us really care for them. An occasional film clip shown on a screen, of falling black blood and a horse, fails to help them and you get the feeling that it was a wave to the Total Theatre Awards.

At 35 minutes, this adaptation is far too short. Which is a shame, as with one or two extra scenes that fleshed out our characters, 'The Highwayman' really could have danced with us 'down the ribbon of moonlight'. As it was, we leave the theatre with heavy feet feeling like we've just watched half a show.