As part of the Lyceum's 90th anniversary celebrations, they chose to open their season with an idea used right at the beginnings of their society and perform one act plays which utilise the same set. The first of these, 'Sunset' by Jerome K Jerome was one of the original Lyceum Players' productions some 90 years' ago! And so, backing that with something newer and more modern these two comedies reflect both the society's roots and its future vision.
Jerome K Jerome wrote this comedy in 1888, before his name became synonymous with 'Three Men In A Boat'. It is a light-hearted whimsical look at love and the patriarchal society that dictates their daughters' future happiness. In this production the setting was updated to the 1920s. Exactly why this was done was most unclear, especially since some of the costuming was from our own time, as well as the bottles of alcohol too!
Set in the drawing room of a country house owned by Mr. Rivers (Dave Fielding), two sisters converse. The elder and more sophisticated Lois (Jenny Owen) talks about her rejecting her father's and aunt's marriage arrangements for her and the neighbour, a more simple, uneducated but conveniently wealthy Azoriah, (Dominic Peberdy), in favour of her illicit romance with a handsome and dashing young gentleman she is in correspondence with. He is in love with her, and he arrives in the area today and so her sister will have the chance also to meet him. Her sister Joan (Leah Gray) also confides that she too has a secret love, whom she met whilst in Switzerland....!
What really should have been a fast moving sparkling comedy of manners, seemingly now due to the change of era in a style that was eventually capitalised upon and made famous by Noel Coward was really rather pedestrian and very short on laughs, not really resonating with this evening's audience at all unfortunately, despite some really rather sterling acting by all involved.
There was a lovely chemistry between Owen and Gray, as they giggled and conspired behind their charges' watchfulness, and the emotions displayed, especially by Owen, once Lawrence's (Richard Parker) deception became apparent was truly convincing and heart-felt.
Fortunately, after the interval, the pace picked up and the laughter started to flow. This was Tom Stoppard at his absurdist best. Stoppard's play, 'The Real Inspector Hound' is a play about a couple of critics watching a rather poor Murder Mystery play...or is it?! A highly original premise and Stoppard always keeps the audience at least one step behind the action, such is his mastery. Absurdist humour doesn't always pay dividends, but this evening it certainly did. The audience warmed to Ian Orry's tight directing immediately, and despite a rather slow start to the play (perhaps a deliberate ploy?) once the characters found their stride they kept it going with aplomb.
To say anything more about the plot of this play would be to spoil it. I loved the comedy touches and this felt a much more secure and fully-rounded performance than the first. Damian Kavanagh and Kevin Whalen made excellent puffed-up critics, whilst the ham acting of the cast on stage became even more surreal as they suddenly found themselves interacting with them! Joan Duffin's dithering Irish housemaid balanced nicely against the blustering shouty wheelchair-bound Magnus (Ean Burgeon), playing his part for all that it was worth. Caught in the middle in a would-be love triangle not too dissimilar from that in the first play this evening were Simon (Joe Doughty), Felicity (Ruth Wild) and Cynthia (Rachel Harrison).
I sincerely hope that the cast of 'Sunset' will find a more effective rhythm as the play continues its run, giving the dialogue more of a chance to sparkle and the witticisms shine; these are two lovely plays which, despite their obvious differences are actually also quite similar and work excellently together. A very interesting (and perhaps brave) start to the Lyceum's latest season. I look forward to seeing what 'Heroes', a contemporary French play putting a humorous spin on the first world war has in store for us - especially with it being translated by the author of the Hound play this evening, Tom Stoppard.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 24/9/18
No comments:
Post a Comment