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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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A bird in
the hand The Kingfisher
Sutton Arts Theatre
***
This was a left-field choice by Sutton Arts, a seldom performed piece
written more than
a quarter of a century ago. Author
William Douglas Home's
lineage is as the maverick brother of Tory PM Sir Alec. He lived in the rarefied world
of the English upper class (although a Scot) all his life, and although
written in 1977, The Kingfisher owes its feel to the drawing room
and parlours of the early 20th
century. During the Second World War he
was court-martialled, and imprisoned, for
failing to obey orders, post war, he became a hugely successful
playwright with numerous West End successes. A three hander, the action
revolves around two aristocrats, Cecil and Evelyn, whose youthful love
had never been rewarded with marriage, and Cecil’s butler, Hawkins. Cecil and Evelyn have
continued to hold feelings for each other through all the years; now
widowed will she marry him? Is love lovelier, the second time around? This is a slight,
feather-light, gentle piece, offering gentle humour, gentle manners and
gentle characters in a carefully crafted, wry, bitter-sweet
comedy. The pastimes of the idle rich,
golf and bridge, preoccupy their minds, but the humour endures, and
survives for a contemporary audience. The scene in which the amorous
couple get down for some passion, but are less able to get up, is the
comic set-piece which has the audience guffawing with laughter. Director Mavis Atkinson places
the proceedings in its time, with a detailed single set meticulously
crafted by John Islip and his team, in the garden of a country house.
She deftly manages a convincing cast who are all of the age of their
characters. Her success is in producing characters rather than the
characterisations which might have appeared. Philandering novelist Cecil is
played with some swagger by David Bligh whose blunderbuss approach to
his love life has unsurprisingly fallen short. Myra Mitchell’s interpretation
of Evelyn is of a coy and elegant woman, somewhat sharper, and certainly
wiser, than Cecil. Rob Alexander is a delight as the unctuous and
deferential butler Hawkins, with an intriguing, veiled, sub-plot as to
whether his closeness with his employer might go beyond what his
contract strictly requires. Augmenting the comedy is
plenty of old age reflection. Can you make up for mistakes of the past?
Can a leopard ever change its spots? Neither Cecil nor Evelyn are
virtuous , maybe Evelyn is just as amoral as Cecil, just a bit smarter
at it? Although in the autumn of their lives, spring beckons, and the
cuckoo calls . As for The Kingfisher, which one of them is it?
The Kingfisher
runs to 10-05-14. Gary Longden
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