Original Theatre Online has produced two multi-camera recording of productions and five made for online productions which have been seen in 37 countries in over 33,000 households. Having enjoyed the Excellent Good Grief about two people coping with the death of a close person I was looking forward to Barnes' People with its stellar casting. I don’t recall having seen work by the writer Peter Barnes (1931-2004) on stage, but these four monologues were written for radio in the early eighties and are described as angry, witty, compassionate, poetic and tough. Whether this is the sort of material one wants to view in a third lockdown when the need to be uplifted by hope and humour is strongly felt may be doubtful and requires the writing to be good, the performances strong and the production effective. Each story can be separately purchased to view and although the producers indicate a preferred order to the four pieces, I could see no logic to the order and strongly preferred two over the other two.
They are all filmed on the stage of the Windsor Theatre Royals in front of a green screen with the props from the other plays scattered over the stage and seen as the actors make their way to the stage for their performances. The Ghost light on a single stand that is seen on stage at the beginning and end of each play is a poignant reminder of empty stages around the country. In some films, the director reminds us during the piece that we are on a stage with shots of stage lights and the auditorium, but I found this an irritating distraction.
