Newspaper review: The Harrogate Advertiser

Demanding Role

As their vast repertoire gathered over a half a century shows, Harrogate Dramatic Society relish a theatical challenge.
As a group, they boast enough talent and expertise in all aspects of stagecraft to achieve the consistently high standard of performance their audience has come to expect. The emotional content of Johnny Belinda alone would tax the most gifted of thespians, but director Sylvia Iveson has bided her time, waiting for the right actress to cast in the leading role. Her name is Rachel Green
This is a small town tragedy set against the vast landscape of rural North Canada. A deaf mute girl - habitually referred to by even her relations as The Dummy - is raped by a farm worker and subsequently gives birth to a son.
Such is the prejudice against her disability in the community, the bigoted "do-gooders" take control of the "sinner" but realise too late, the callousness of their judgement.
Rachel Green's portrayal of Belinda is a remarkable achievement. In my experience, good acting falls into two categories - the sort that is convincing on one level but may still be conceived as a "performance" on another. But here, applaud the rarer sort where all artifice vanishes and each reaction is magically spontaneous, despite weeks of rehearsal and preparation. The sensual pleasure Belinda derives from "feeling" the sound of thunder and music is vividly communicated. To say to much about the final scene would be to give away secrets, but I shall remember for a long time the sound of Belinda's hand striking her chest in fast thuds as she expresses, in sign language, the turmoil within.
While Rachel's characterisation towers over the drama, many of her finest moments are played with Alan Harwood.

Ruth Badley.