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A spiffing tale to tell, what! Jeeves and Wooster
Malvern Theatres
**** THE English
love Jeeves and Wooster! PG Wodehouse created characters with light
stories to link them together that poke fun affectionately at the
privileged classes in our British society. Fry and Laurie popularised
them on television and now they are in the theatres around the country. Gussie Fink-Nottle, Stiffy Byng and Stinker
Pinker, Sir Roderick Spode and Sir Watkin Bassett, Madeline and Aunt
Dahlia provide a world that scarcely exists any more but which depicts a
world of money, leisure, frivolity and irresponsibility, where the most
serious crime seems to be the theft of a policeman’s hat! The style of Goucher and Rubinstein’s production
is reminiscent of the Reduced Shakespeare Company with a small cast of
three covering the whole cast and story! This requires fast-moving
switches between characters by the two actors not playing Wooster, and a
slick and farcical style of performance. This is enriched by the words a major element in
the humour is the language and the linguistic subtleties that Wodehouse
provides. Wooster acts as both narrator and central
character in the story and as such gets himself in a variety of pickles
from which he is extricated most frequently by Jeeves with his ingenuity
and contacts. He decides to portray the story in the form of a stage
play in which Jeeves and Seppings play all the parts and act as stage
manager and sound technicians as well. In this regard there are echoes
of ‘Noises Off’ with the play within the play. Wooster manages to avoid any undesirable
liaisons, he helps his friends to achieve their desired goals and
relationships and the faintly unpleasant characters end up the butt of
the jokes and with the raw end of the stick! Robert Webb as Wooster provides a warm and
endearing character whom the audience quickly grow to like. His humorous
asides and chat with the audience help to establish a jolly rapport as
he talks about the mechanics of the theatre as well as the predicaments
in the story. Jason Thorpe plays Jeeves, Stiffy Byng and Gussie
amongst others and his range and trickery are excellent. He is less
successful as Jeeves than some of the other characters he plays – his
Gussie is brilliant. The pace with which he is transformed from one
role to another, disappearing through a window or under a bed as one
character, before an instant later appearing through the door as another
is hilarious. It is capped when he plays two roles simultaneously with
one side of his costume as one character and the other side as a
completely different one! Christopher Ryan as Seppings is likewise covering
a wide range of characters, male and female. He has tremendous variety
and dexterity, as well as contrasting stature, and he contributes to the
pace, energy and confusion that ensure that the show continues to hold
the audience through to the conclusion. Many of the comic tricks and devices are
well-worn ones, some are new, but they are all executed with skill and
slick control. The set works a treat. The play opens with a very
bare stage and progressively Jeeves adds more scenery and complexity to
the design as the story develops. The use of the revolve, operated by
the bicycle, is a wonderful comic and theatrical device. The second act works particularly well. The play
takes a little time to establish the momentum achieved later but by the
end of the evening, the audience have grown close to Wooster and enjoyed
the cleverness and slickness with which two of our favourite characters
have come to life, though it took some time for us to get into the story
and care about the outcome of the plot. To 04-04-15 Tim Crow
31-03-15
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