Triumphant Performance Of "Miracle Worker”

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31043, 26 April 1966, Page 18

Triumphant Performance Of "Miracle Worker”

It is not often that one wants to stand up at the end of a performance and applaud, and applaud, and even then feel tempted to whisper “Bravo!” But the audience which saw the remarkable performances given by Pamela Merwood and Karen Chalmers in “The Miracle Worker” on Saturday night certainly realised that it had shared in a theatrical experience quite out of the ordinary. The play, directed by John Kim for Canterbury Reper-

tory Society Theatre, is the story of Helen Keller’s childhood. Helen is blind, deaf and dumb. Her teacher, Annie Sullivan, struggles to help her communicate with, and understand, the outside world. Helen has first to be taught obedience, and then taught that words are labels for things. For a young actress to portray without crudity or embarrassing exaggeration a child so horribly handicapped is a challenge: Karen Chalmers not only met the challenge but did so with the kind of artistry that involves both beauty and truth. In turns vicious, affectionate, earnest, tortured, sulking, elated, there was no mood which Miss Chalmers did not communicate immediately and easily to the audience. This performance was surely a triumph both for the actress and for her director, Mr Kim. But the best moments came when Pamela Merwood was also on stage. The dedicated but inexperienced young teacher, Annie Sullivan, sprang to life with a vitality, intensity and compassion which lost little in comparison with Anne Bancroft’s award-win-ning screen portrayal of the same part. Miss Merwood is an actress of “star” quality, an actress whose every movement, every word, exery expression attracts and holds one’s interest while developing the meaning of the play as a whole. The rest of the cast mem-

bers were always adequate—and sometimes better than this. They had, unfortunately, to struggle with American accents: surely this lesson has been learnt by now. But everyone in the large supporting cast (especially June Harvest as the mother) helped build the atmosphere and tension necessary for the star performances. There were many scenes from this production which will stay in the mind: the parents’ horror when they discovered their baby’s disabilities; the blind children saying goodbye to Annie; the fight at the table between Helen and Annie; the reunion of Helen and the dog, Belle (what a well trained animal): and, of course, the intensely, exciting, moving, exhilarating final scene. The production had atmosphere and style, using an excellently designed multiple set and imaginatively coloured lighting to underline the emotional point of a scene. It is a tribute to the play, the production and the two leading performances that any blemishes (and they were there) did not seem to matter. “The Miracle Worker” is vibrant theatre: it creates, time after time, that rare magic spell that nothing can break. And so, if somewhat belatedly, “Bravo, bravo, bravo!” “The Miracle Worker” will be presented until April 30. —P.R.S.