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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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Finding the right expression Groping for Words Swan Theatre Amateur Company Swan Theatre, Worcester **** IT is one of those strange facts of life
that while the number of pupils passing English GCSE with an A* to C
grade has gone up by almost 30 per cent in the past 10 years, the level
of adult illiteracy has remained virtually static. There are around five million adults who are
‘functionally illiterate” and of those about 1.7 million who are to all
intents and purposes illiterate, living in a world where virtually every
door is closed, a world which is explored in Sue Townsend's 1983 play. The play railed against the levels of adult
literacy thirty years ago and it is perhaps a condemnation of society,
or perhaps it is merely just a feature, that the figures from then are
very little changed to those of today. The play, set in 1983, is looking
a little dated in places and its references to Margaret Thatcher are
perhaps a little unfortunate this week, but that is the time and age
when it was set and the problems it explores have not gone away a
generation later. The story is simple Joyce, played with a fragile
primness by Jane Lush, is middle class, well-off and married to a GP – a
marriage which, 29 years on, is drifting along with no hand on the
tiller. Joyce wants to put something back so decides to teach adult
literacy as a night class at a local primary school in Clapham. That brings her into contact with George, played
with a deference, or perhaps resignation, to the world around him with
gentlemanly old fashioned manners by Ian Mason. George lost his job when
his old employer died and his son introduced systems requiring the
ability to read and write. He also lost his divorced and remarried wife
and daughter who have left to make a new life in Australia. To make his
life complete he has also lost his home and come down to London looking
for work. He lives out of two carrier bags and is finding out about
adult literacy classes “for a friend”.
Then there is Thelma, from Northampton, who is
nanny, on slave wages, to a wealthy couple and is in danger of being
exposed as illiterate when her employer wants her to teach her three
year old daughter to read to help her into a posh prep school. Cora
Jackson plays the part beautifully with all the frustrations and anger
of someone who was written off at school as slow and backward. She is
the only one who admits she has a problem but only wants to read the
Janet and John books to keep one word ahead of the child in her care. Then there is the acting head caretaker Kevin,
aged 19, a stroppy, arrogant teenager who has taken on the top job after
his boss, Horace, was suspended when half the education department's
cleaning stock was found in his back bedroom. Calum Witney shows fine timing with his
collection of one liners, Ronnie Barker's Fletcheresque at times,
and gives us the worst side of callow youth. His sister, Femke,
incidentally, played an equally stroppy teenager, Naomi, in Asking
for Murder at STAC last Christmas. Kevin has a wrist injury caused by a bite from a
ferret, or a stabbing with a cocktail stick, you take your choice but
there will be another injury along in a minute. Whatever the cause, the
injury prevents him from writing. The play explores the hopelessness of lives
without literacy, the restrictions, the opportunities closed off and the
despair of those who live lives having to hide the fact they have never
mastered the most basic of skills. It offers no solutions, and the fact that the
numbers have hardly changed in 30 years perhaps indicates that solutions
have been hard to find. At times the dialogue is very funny, at times
sad and the play is sometimes both all at once such as when George,
homeless with limited washing facilities, has a quick wash using he
goldfish bowl. The studio staging is a simple one of a primary
school classroom with tiny furniture with Kevin's office at the side,
allowing for two sets separated by just lighting and the direction by
Pauline Lowe keeps up a good pace – not always easy with just a cast of
four and a single set – and brings out not only the pathos and despair
but also the humour. The result is a fine, believable cast in a well
directed play with a few laughs and something to think about. To
13-04-13. Roger Clarke |
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