“Im all you have in the world. We are all each other has.”
For starters, Scherzo was never going to be anything approaching bad. Its written by Rob Shearman, he of THE HOLY TERROR, THE CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT, JUBILEE and DEADLINE fame. Four DOCTOR WHO plays that typify Big Finish? output- the quality, the style of these plays will turn any audio naysayers into instant converts. With Scherzo, Shearman delivers another high quality script, different from his other works, but still great entertainment. After ZAGREUS, the anniversary shindig, this had to be low key- any other way would have been suicide. Where ZAGREUS had a universal canvas and epic scope, Scherzo is quite literally set in one place, through almost the whole play, with only two characters appearing. The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) and Charley (India Fisher) and no one else. Well, there is a sound creature that uses their voices- but it is essentially a two-hander play, like MASTER very much in the vein of a stage production. Few scene breaks, flowing dialogue. The action here does not keep the story going- the writing and the acting does. Things are moved along by Shearman? script and McGann and Fishers acting. The shock is it works. The premise of this tale never grabbed me, but the performances on offer here expand on the characters of the ?urrent?TARDIS team, and their feelings towards each other following the ? love you?speech in NEVERLAND and the subsequent fall out in ZAGREUS.
What? obvious from the off is that the joyous, life loving Eighth Doctor has seemingly lost his reason to keep going. He seems resigned to the fact that he? going to die in this new universe (see ZAGREUS) and therefore finds little joy in anything. He essentially ?ied?when the time station blew up in NEVERLAND. It seems that his melancholy comes from the fact he was resigned to loosing everything, but has instead gained a new life- one that he didn? necessarily want, or was prepared for. Charley on the other hand is surprised by the Doctors attitude, arguing its better to be alive whatever the conditions. The ?ove?the two share, their opinions and feelings are explored, vented, and added to in this play. Indeed, the actual joining of the pair in this story adds to the truth that Charley has got under the skin of this incarnation. What happens next, will be even more intriguingU
FOUR POINT FIVE OUT OF FIVE
NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO: THE McGANN SEASON CONTINUES WITH THE CREED OF THE KROMON!
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