THEATRE: THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION
Review By Duncan McLeod
Director: Louise Fischer
Cast: Shannon Ashlyn, Patrick Connolly, Robert Edwards, Errol Henderson, Lynden Jones, John Keightley, Naomi Livingstone, Corinne Marie, Ruben Neeson, Marty O’Neill, Samantha Roylance, Kate Shearer, Mark Sippel, Gary Smith, Damian Sommerlad, Chris Turner, Paul Whiddon, Amanda Wiltshire and Robert Zavadszky
Synopsis: In 1929, David Sarnoff, a Russian-born New York broadcasting tycoon, and Philo T. Farnsworth, a self-taught electronics genius from rural Idaho, battle through industrial espionage, family tragedy, financial disaster and the thrill of discovery for the rights to one of the greatest inventions of all time.
As the ambitions and egos of two visionaries clash over the ownership of a patent potentially worth millions, just one lapse, one error of judgement and the other will gain the edge.
From the acclaimed writer of The Social Network and The West Wing comes this gripping true story about the birth of television and how one man dared to take on the might of corporate America.
Review:
Aaron Sorkin gave us THE WEST WING and THE SOCIAL NETWORK, both acclaimed pieces of engaging entertainment. THE FARNSWORTH EXPERIMENT is well up to their standard. This is a cracking account of the birth of television, and the genius, creativity and torment behind its rise to prominence as an entertainment medium.
Like Sorkin’s previous outings, FARNSWORTH is heavily weighted with dialogue that rattles along at a cracking pace. The actors in this production use it as a tool to command their audience with great finesse.
Patrick Connolly as David Sarnoff, and Damian Somerland as Philo Farnsworth, are energetic verbal sparring partners and highly entertaining to watch. Both characters take turns to narrate the piece and interject at will to great effect.
Connolly has a striking presence on stage, and he projects his character like a magician weaving a spell on the audience. Connolly and Somerland were well chosen as leads here. Interestingly, Somerland bears a resemblance to playwright Sorkin. Intentional or not, it was a nice touch, and for this reviewer added an extra spark of enjoyment to the piece.
That Somerland was more emotive in his delivery than Connolly is understandable, as Farnsworth had every reason to be emotional. His life’s work was being challenged by corporate America and being outdone by international rivals. His journey was a wild one, and Somerland does an expert job taking the audience along for the ride.
Lynden Jones’ turn as William Crocker, who was involved in funding the Fransworth prototype, has cemented this reviewer’s belief in Jones’ fine acting ability. Jones manages to command the stage and draw the audience in with little effort. He is a great talent.
This is not a female centric play. Except for Farnsworth’s sister Pem (Shannon Ashlyn) who has a hand in the invention process, women are relegated to either trophy wives or dominating harridans.
The set was simple and effective and used the space well. Divided into three, the set made a clear definition of each section and served well to illustrate scene changes.
At just over 120 minutes including interval, length drags the play down. The script is dialogue heavy, and as the play rolls on, it gets laborious at times. If 20 minutes were shaved off the run time, it would have had greater impact on this reviewer. Another bugbear is the unreliability of the accents. Some of the ensemble wavered in their American accents, others never comfortably managed one in the first place.
In spite of these challenges, director Louise Fischer has managed to wrangle some weighty words and clever cast members and channel them into an entertaining fusion of fact and artistic license, showing that theatre and television can work harmoniously together and turn out a quality night at the theatre.
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