Teletext, 9th
November 2001, Phil Penfold
The Shawl takes us to a room where a clairvoyant is
about to meet his new client, a young woman in distress and seeking guidance.
Writer David Mamet suggests that the man (played with
stunning clarity by Michael Pennington) is part psychic, part psychiatrist.
Like Sherlock Holmes, he can deduce a great deal about his subjects by their
clothes, movement and expressions.
David Mamet must have sat in on psychic sessions,
judging by the way he cuts through the babble, presenting us in The Shawl with
a fraudulent character who may have a mental gift.
The Stage and
Television Today, 15th November 2001, John Highfield
A fascinating study of mediumship, lies and
professional deception, very much in the Mamet vein of double crosses and
intrigue.
Teresa Banham is the woman looking for answers from
the grave, but much more interesting – mainly because we get only the most
tantalising of glimpses – is the relationship between Michael Pennington’s
fraud and Jamie Glover as his younger apprentice.
A fascinating blend of the dangerous and the
ambiguous.
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