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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Pocket sprung fun at the double Bedroom Farce
Sutton Arts Theatre
**** WHEN you ask Barrie Atchison to direct an
Ayckbourn play it’s like recruiting Jose Mourinho to manage your
football team, you are guaranteed a safe pair of hands, and success. And
so it proved on opening night. Although the word farce is in the title, this is
a comedy. There are no banging doors, or falling trousers. Atchison
eschews a seventies set and fashion for the contemporary, and the script
survives being wrenched from the period to the present surprisingly
well. The single set comprises three bedrooms on two
levels for four couples. John Islip and his stage team have done a
tremendous job cramming the bedroom para First performed in 1977, the comedy explores the
fissures in four marriages. The only bedroom-less couple, the roving and
highly neurotic Susannah and Trevor (Louise Farmer and Jimmy-Joe
Corbett) drag and impose their problems around the other three bedrooms,
creating chaos in their wake, not least on the best set-piece of the
night, when their fight ruins a house party. The older couple, Ernest and Delia (Allan Lane
and Hazel Evans),go wild by sharing tinned fish in bed, and anchor the
night with a warm, characterful performance. Lane’s grumpy old man
becomes grumpier and grumpier, Evans’ dutiful wife becomes wilier and
wilier in dealing with her long standing marriage partner. Nick and Jan (Jon Hall and Emma Woodcock) bitter
, irritable, and resigned, have both settled for second best, know it,
and accept their lot. Hall has to play the physical comedy for all its
worth as he is incapacitated by a bad back for proceedings, Woodcock is
sassy and lively opposite him, barely suppressing her frustration with
her supine husband Malcolm and Kate (Dave Douglas and Hellie
England), provide the froth and pace, but they have their secrets too
amidst silly bedroom games . Crucially, England injects vital enthusiasm
and dynamism to the production after the scene setting opening. Aykbourn’s take on marriage is a little bleak,
but the play is always funny. The appallingly selfish, Trevor and
Susannah expose the fissures in other people's marriages, all of which
survive the examination. Any man who has ever had to assemble flat pack
furniture will laugh out loud, as will any woman who has found herself
having to get dressed in a tight situation. Director Barrie Atchison grasps the mechanical
demands of an Ayckbourn play admirably, juxtaposing rueful, disquieting
home truths with knock-about comedy. A witty and rewarding evening’s
entertainment. “You can learn a lot from people’s bedrooms”. To 28-03-15 Gary Longden
19-03-15 |
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phernalia
of three very different couples into a relatively small space.