Adapted by Stephen Briggs, directed by Amy Curson and Ellen Warren
Reviewed by Jason Rincewind Anthony-Rowlands
I've previously seen an adaptation of Feet of Clay a few years ago but can remember very little of that production so I went into The Gate Theatre in Cardiff with little preconceived ideas.
South Wales, much like the rest of the UK, was in the middle of a mini-heatwave at The Gate Theatre. The auditorium was like a giant oven, so the production team asked us to stay in the relatively cooler bar area until the very last minute.
The Gate Theatre is a lovely building though the seats are not particularly comfortable and as previously mentioned it has very little control over the temperature. While The Gate does have a small stage area. Peculiar Productions tend to use the rather larger floor area which gives them more space and the production room to breathe.
I'd previously seen many Pratchett productions at The Gate Theatre and Peculiar Productions has been one of the best and consistently good theatre companies for Pratchett productions.
The play starts in Vimes' office and I was very pleased to see Jes Hynes once again reprising this role. For me Jes is Sam Vimes and it was great to see that Sam was in safe hands. Feet of Clay is a long play and very dialog heavy.
I have to say the cast were all excellent. There were a few moments near the beginning where the cast needed to project a little better but they soon settled down and made their voices heard. Peculiar have been lucky to have quite a large pool of talent available and some actors have really become synonymous with the characters they portray. Michael Dickonson-Smith has become for me, Lord Vetinari and it's always wonderful to see Josh Flynn playing Nobby Nobbs.
For me though, one of the outstanding performances was by new member Liv Nicholson as Constable Angua. Liv captured the nuances of Angua perfectly. She looked striking in the role and there was the occasional dog-like tilt of the head or the wry smile that told so much of the story. Apparently Liv has never been in a production before and originally auditioned for a tech role! Liv's chemistry with both Benjamin Fitch as Captain Carrot and especially with Bryony Humphries-Jennings as Cheery Littlebottom was deep, meaningful and caring. Without giving anything away there was a scene near the end of the play between Angua, Cheery, and Carrot that was very moving and quite emotional. We hope both Liv and Bryony return for Peculiar's next production in Spring 2025.
As previously mentioned the rest of the cast were all wonderful and the whole play was very well put together. The stage props were kept to a minimum and the changes between scenes were kept as short as possible. The solid direction means that the play moves along at a good pace and the audience was never bored.
Given that this was opening night I have to say I am very impressed. If I had seen this performance on the closing night I would have been impressed. It's obvious that there was a huge amount of love for the script and Terry Pratchett from the cast and crew and they gave it their all in the very hot auditorium.
I understand there are still some tickets available. So please, if you get a chance, do get down to The Gate Theatre in Cardiff and see Feet of Clay - you won't be disappointed. This really is amateur dramatics at its best. We can't wait to go back in Spring 2025 to see Maskerade.
Tickets are still available from The Box Office
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