Bright is the Ring of Words - Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010 & London 2012
Written by : Jeffrey Mayhew - Directed by : Julian Garner - Role: John
"Jeffrey Mayhew’s bleak, powerful short play...Mayhew himself plays the old singer with uncompromising nastiness: vulnerable, sly, angry, misogynistic and obscene...Brilliantly done,the payoff is overwhelming." - Libby Purves
"a low-key domestic drama which benefits from a sharp and well observed script, and two finely tuned performances. The play's writer, Jeffrey Mayhew, plays John with a certain warmth and dignity, even as the seemingly terminal nature of his condition allows him to laugh in the face of life and death...a solid and bittersweet odd-couple piece with a strong thread of quality throughout." - David Pollock
"We are often exposed to the psychological effects of alcoholism in theatre, but few shows demonstrate the physical effects quite as effectively as Bright is the Ring of Words... every stiff move Mayhew makes is impeccable...If you’ve been overdoing the drinking in Edinburgh so far, this is definitely the show to temporarily put you off your scotch." - Lauren Paxman
"Jeffrey Mayhew’s Bright Is The Ring Of Words is a poignant look at the relationship between two men brought together by their mistakes...Mayhew gives a strong performance as John, subtle and naturalistic and full of pathos and humour" - Deborah Klayman
"Jeffery Mayhew’s Bright is the Ring of Words, like the poem, traces the desire we have to be remembered beyond the grave and settles on the delicacy and vulnerability of a raw human voice as the most evocative and powerful way to do so...the sensitivity Mayhew shows in his script and the depth of feeling on stage allows the tale to unravel in a engrossing and suitably distressing hour." - Ana Bradley
"Jeffrey Mayhew’s play is an intelligent and insightful exploration into an encounter between two men who are worlds apart...this show is a mini rollercoaster of emotions, there are flashes of youthful hope and ageing resignation, with exchanges which are mischievously humorous and tinged with sadness between this frustrated unlikely pairing...Simply and intimately staged...Quietly moving." - Georgina Sharp
"Jeffrey Mayhew never shies away from the actualities of his character's complete abandonment of personal standards. Retching and drooling and occasionally immobilized in a helpless contortion of pain and exhaustion, he engages the audience's curiosity and sympathy but spiked with an intellectual acerbity that keeps it mercifully free from pathos... there are some great lines, and the comic moments are well-delivered, it's the authenticity of the central performances that holds your attention, and both the struggle over the alcoholic's grasp on the vodka bottle and the final catastrophe seemed entirely real to me." - Johnny Fox
"Mayhew gives a disturbing performance of a man who is literally wasting away but who still vulgarly clings on to his past glory and sexual conquest. His physicality in itself is moving; his tiny, shaking frame almost disappears next to his seemingly giantesque carer who can effortlessly pick him up and move him around. Mayhew captures the utter degradation of a man who has lost all hope of dignity and every morsel of lust for life." - Phoebe Ladenburg
"Jeffrey Mayhew’s play is an uncompromising yet poignant drama putting together two men who could not be more different...This production is an interesting take on the age old theme of talent being wilfully squandered and the resultant pathetic decline of an individual whose life could have achieved so much."