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An evening of compelling ordinariness
Stephanie Cole as Doris. Cole, incidentally,
played Muriel in Soldiering on in the first series of Talking
Heads on BBC TV in 1988.
Talking Heads
Malvern Festival Theatre
****
ALAN Bennett’s series of monologues were originally created for
television but were subsequently adapted for the stage with great
success.
He
introduces us to some quaint indivi duals
who reveal both their characters and their stories in a wistful,
endearing manner.
There is
an ordinariness about them, a quality we can identify with in their
everyday humanness, along with a certain unique individuality which
creates an amusing but endearing response in us as we hear them
uncovering their world.
The
first of the three offered at Malvern this week is entitled
Lady of Letters.
Miss Ruddock is a single woman who watches and comments on the world
around her by writing innumerable letters to all and sundry.
For
instance she writes to the manager of the crematorium to complain about
the atmosphere there and the smokers hanging around outside. The
atmosphere is ‘brisk’ and not ‘reverent’. Eventually she goes too far
and ends up in prison wherein she surprisingly finds a measure of
freedom.
Siobhan Redmond
as the letter writing Mrs Ruddock commenting upon the world around her
The tone
is gently ironic. Siobhan Redmond interprets this character with
wonderful timing and subtle inflexions and her voice has great clarity.
It is a sensitive and amusing performance.
The
second character we meet is Graham Whittaker in A
chip in the sugar. He is a rather pathetic individual who
still lives with his mother, but whose life and relationship with her is
interrupted when mother meets an old flame
called Frank. This intrusion unsettles Graham who comments on the
relationships and situation sardonically.
He repeats
a lot of dialogue in his narration. We are left aware, as with the
characters in the two other monologues, of a certain sadness and
loneliness in his world.
Karl
Theobald performs the role with effective pace, again great clarity and
poignancy, and holds our attention with the wistfulness and sadness of
his life.
The final
monologue is from the character of Doris
in A cream cracker under the setee.
Doris is 75, she has a carer who calls to help her cope in her home and
stave off the day when she has to move into an old people’s home.
However
she has slipped while trying to dust the top of a picture on the wall
and hurt her leg. She cannot get up and move around properly because of
her injury and she is like a beached whale struggling to exist or get
help.
In her
obsession with cleanliness and hygiene she spots the cream cracker under
the settee which gives the piece its name. Eventually she devours it to
quell the pangs of hunger she is experiencing.
Once again
Bennett achieves a brilliant mixture of wit a nd
pathos. Doris is herself able to see the irony in her situation, she
comments on her own life with humour and insight, but in the end we are
moved by her helplessness and isolation.
Stephanie
Cole is brilliant in her delivery and performance of this part. She
avoids undue self-pity and wins the audience with her humour and the
sincerity of her performance. It provides a moving climax to the
evening.
Karl Theobald
as the lonely, troubled Graham Whittaker afraid of losing his mother to
her old flame
The plays
are located in a set that is adapted for the three plays. The interiors
are somewhat stark and severe, the lighting is cleverly designed to
create atmosphere and highlight the passage of time, the music is
somewhat haunting and underlines some of the sadder themes of isolation
and loneliness that the pieces explore.
Overall it
is a sophisticated piece of theatre that was greatly enjoyed by the
audience who were predominantly mature in years. It requires some
concentration as the format of listening to a single performer for a
long period of time is demanding, three times in the same evening. It is
however a subtle and witty evening performed to a high standard by very
experienced and skilled actors. To Saturday, 29 August.
Timothy Crow
24-08-15
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