Review – Miracle
Venue: The Lowry
Date reviewed: 19th September, 2008
Art Bandit’s play Miracle is a highly ambitious piece, exploring sexuality, religion and its double standards.
Before you think -seen it all before, there is quite an intriguing premise.
Will Hung (Ste Myott) is a porn star and ex rent boy who finds that he can cure terminal diseases if he has sex with the patient. This might sound ridiculous and more like farce than a drama, but for the first half, this has real potential.
The character of Will is fairly well written and given a mesmerising quality by the brilliant Myott, who is an amazing talent. You cannot take your eyes off him, as he constantly surprises you, making you laugh-out-loud one minute and sympathise with his character’s plight the next.
The problem is that Myott is such a find, that he acts everyone else off the stage. Jeni Howarth-Williams lacks projection and therefore fails to convince as Will’s carer/confidante. Writer/actor Gerry Potter also lacks the subtlety of his young co-star as Father Joseph, particularly during the comic moments.
This is not helped by the fact that writing-wise, he trots out the same old cliches, leaving the audience longing for a new angle, as opposed to the ‘priest abuses young boy’ scenario. There are moments though that grip you, mainly due to Myott’s scene stealing turn, as he really does breathe new life into the cornier elements.
Mike Heath’s direction adds pace to the piece, fitting perfectly with the Greek Tragedy style plot developments. But, the script lurches from one unbelievable situation to the next, with the final twist being particularly hard to swallow. With a few re-writes and more authenticity, Miracle could attract a crowd.
For Myott alone though, this deserves an audience as he certainly gives a dazzling and memorable performance as the porn star/saviour.
-Glenn Meads
September 30th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I went to see this performance on Saturday evening and would disagree whole-heartedly with the comments above. I thought Gerry Potter was totally believable as the priest and didn’t believe Will’s predicament at all. I felt Will’s peformance was a tired, lacklustre performance whereas Gerry was totally enigmatic. I hung on his every word. As a whole, however, I enjoyed the play but Gerry was by far the best actor on the stage. Fabulous in every respect.