Productions

Polished by Love, one of the Grads entries in the 2010 SCDA One Act Festival, is an 18th century work by the French dramatist Marivaux. It's an engaging, charming and entertaining piece dealing, as all great plays do, with one of the universals of human life. In this instance - love.

The plot in brief is this. A fairy, despite being engaged to Merlin the magician, has fallen in love with a handsome young peasant. She carries him off to her castle but finds that not only is he indifferent to her feelings but that he's a bit of a plonker, ungainly and dull-witted. Such is her infatuation that she's undaunted by this and is determined to turn him into a refined and spirited youth worthy of being her husband.

The young man though, meets and falls for a shepherdess who returns his feelings. This event transforms his manner and wit in just the way that the fairy has been unable to do. The fairy engages the help of her right-hand man to track down the shepherdess and to break-up the relationship. However he is not too happy about his boss doing the dirty on Merlin so he advises the young couple on how to get the better of her.

The young man beats the fairy at her own game but is persuaded to forgive her and the play ends in general rejoicing.

For more information, please visit the Polished by Love microsite.


Polished By Love was an entrant in the SCDA 2010 One Act Play Festival. Here are the remarks we've received from the ajudicator!

ACTING: A fine piece of ensemble playing, with many of the actors displaying a bit more confidence than others. Although the cast were clearly enjoying the experience, and each of them relished their individual 'moment in the limelight' a bit more control and discipline - particularly vocally - would help to highlight the moments and to tell the story.

DIRECTION: An interesting and modern interpretation of what could have been, in different hands, a rather twee story. The moments of madness and absurdity, in particular the sheep scene, were inspired and would have lent themselves to some of the other scenes - the peasants' dance and the singer's moment.

STAGING: The simple yet effective set and the use of original music helped to highlight the 'other-worldly' aspect of the piece. The lighting changes could have been a little slicker at times and some of the music had a tendency to dominate the dialogue.