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2001graeae

'The cast consisted of performers with physical or sensory impairments and performances on the whole were strong, and were led by an excellent De Flores played by David Toole, a performer with no legs, around whom the performance revolved, displaying a recognition of De Flores' central role in the narrative. [T]he rejection of the subplot was effective in heightening the efficiency of the narrative and the production, it could have afforded an opportunity for an interesting engagement with issues of body/mind association [...]. 

Lisa Ducie's design had the performers in 1960s influenced costumes on an otherwise empty stage, featuring a large light-bulb strewn crucifix on a raised platform, something which foregrounded the production's focus on morality's conflict with desire. Moreover, when during the performance panels were brought on stage for slide projections of 1960s photographs whose subject matter was intended to comment on the action. Jenny Sealey's direction though competent was flawed here as I would argue that The Changeling is a piece without an overtly political plot and the rebellion of De Flores and Beatrice is not ideological. As such, the juxtaposition of the narrative alongside the 1960s imagery was misleading and only functioned on an aesthetic level. [...]

[B]y recasting the father of Beatrice as a mother, the gender bias of the pice was altered and the text's exploration of women as commodity in a patriarchal society was lost.'

Elizabeth Schafer, RORD 41 (2002), 82-3