Reviews: Ay Carmela
Review by: The Times
Ay Carmela
Set in the Spanish Civil war... a play serious in intent and aiming for gallows humour, cast in the flexible mould of magic realism where the dead return to talk, remember, and eat sweet quinces with the living... Carmela s strangely tender recollections are interwoven with harsh events, and whether playing dead or alive, Mansfield s performance is genuinely affecting...in Tom Wright's generous production.
Review by: The Stage
Ay Carmela
Here is a modern Spanish Classic given the translation it deserves. The dialogue is an audacious mix of hearty word play and quick fire banter, clever poetic devices and vivid imagery. Pickavance absolutely devours the part of Paulino. Comically and emotionally extravagant, his body is as fluid and flexible as his speech. Mansfield is excellent. Her singing is beautifully restrained in its passion... an intriguing, mysterious and haunting play.
Review by: UK Theatre Network
Ay Carmela
Carmela is played to utter perfection – Mansfield sings, snaps her castanets, and flamenco dances to the manner born... The indefatigable Robert Pickavance is masterly in the role of Paulino... Steve Trafford s script is a triumph of imaginative vitality... A surreal, fantastical black comedy, overlaying elements of slapstick and burlesque with moments of real pathos: Beckett would have approved.
Review by: The British Theatre Guide
Ay Carmela
Elizabeth Mansfield is ideally cast as Carmela. As well as giving a wonderfully funny and moving performance she also has a thrilling singing voice... Robert Pickavance gives a tour de force performance as the harassed Paulino, in comparison with whom Basil Fawlty is positively laid back. It s one of those plays that rattle around in the mind long after you leave the auditorium, and another feather in Ensemble's cap.
