My Family and Other Animals – REVIEW
Image: My Family and Other Animals by Genesian Theatre. Photo: Vicki Scarratt
The Genesian Theatre’s penultimate production for the year is a stage adaptation of the 1956 British novel My Family and Other Animals, written by Gerard Durrell. A quasi-memoir, the book chronicles the four years Durrell and his family spent in Corfu when Durrell was a child.
Award-winning writer/theatre maker, Janys Chambers, wrote the play which made its debut in the York Theatre Royal in 2011. It was received well and has been performed on other stages since.
Gerard Durrell is a British naturalist who was ten years old when, in 1935, he moved with his widowed mother, two older brothers and older sister to the Greek Island of Corfu. During their four years there they lived in three different villas, hosted dozens of Bohemian visitors from England, became endeared to the locals, and – thanks to Gerard – got up close and personal with the wildlife on the island.
Durrell’s book, written when he was in his thirties, describes the vividly coloured landscapes of Greece, the equally colourful people, and his own eccentric family. It lends itself well to film; a bit of a challenge to translate to stage.
The Genesian company, as ever, takes up the challenge with gusto. The young Gerard is played, interestingly, by the youthful looking adult female actor, Dominique Nesbitt. She pulls it off effectively.
Cindy de Wet is very charismatic as the widowed (she keeps telling us) Louisa Durrell; Gordon Carroll is older brother and wannabe writer, Lawrence; Joash Stuivenberg is the gun-totting Leslie; and Deanna Ruseska is the blossoming, flirtatious Margo.
The family dog, Roger, is played by Jordan McCabe in partial costume. Spiro, the assertive Greek taxi-driver-cum-everything is played by Theo Hatzistergos.
A fairly large ensemble – especially for The Genesian – plays the host of various characters including two audacious magpies, whose costumes are worth special mention.
It’s a long play and it doesn’t quite capture the sunny beauty of Corfu the way film versions do, but it does provide warmth through storytelling and characterisations. The props, lighting, music and set design go a long way to building the right ambience.
