The Prize (Newcastle)

As The Prize (by Steve Gilroy and Richard Stockwell) is a play about Olympic Athletes, the timing is obviously perfect. But the medals here go to the cast, who are gold medal standard. Their timing is perfect as they play several characters and seamlessly cross over from one another each time letting us in to another aspect of an athletes life. Chris Connel, Seroca Davis, Melissa Johns, Carl Kennedy and Helen Embleton are faultless but the seventy-five minute play (no interval) just seemed to flag towards the end.

Initially finding out about what makes athletes tick and drives them on, is interesting, but after a while it does seem repetitious. The handling of both Olympic and Paralympic athletes is well handled, but there is little opportunity to get to know a character.

A nice touch is the current Paralympic news being displayed above the actors at the end, so we could instantly link the play to the following days activity. But while this is a worthwhile piece, with an excellent cast, it just does not fully work