Somewhere on
Yorkshire’s East Coast, right at the end of the line, two trains and a bus ride
from anywhere, the resort of Sunnyside was recently voted the worst seaside
town in the country by the readers of a major national newspaper. It is here
that we meet straight-talking Barney (John Godber), probably the most unlikely
proprietor of a seaside B&B since a certain Mr. Fawlty set up in Torquay
almost five decades ago. Run with the help of his wife Tina (Jane Thornton,
Godber’s real-life wife) and daughter Cath (Martha Godber, one of his real-life
daughters) this establishment is gearing up for an increase in the number of
“staycationers” – a horrible word, according to Barney – as pandemic restrictions
subside.
We learn that the family has deep roots in Sunnyside. As Cath puts it, “Me great grandad came here for the railways, met me nan, knocked her up and that were it”. It isn’t an easy place to live, rife with drug abuse and unemployment; even the coast itself is crumbling away faster than it is anywhere else. All three are committed to it though. They love it, in their own way, even if Barney’s assertion that “if they don’t like it they shouldn’t come” won’t be featuring in any PR industry awards list any time soon. And we soon come to love them: they are quick-witted and bounce off each other as they intersperse their family banter with their stories.
The main story they tell is of the visit of Tina’s brother Graham and his wife Sue. Graham – played by Godber as a much more complex character than Barney – grew up in Sunnyside but moved away to follow a career in education. Success in that field led to a middle-class lifestyle and a rather affected one at that; whilst on the one hand the couple proclaim themselves vegan they still enjoy their eggs “sunny side up”. Graham’s politics are ostensibly Left-wing but his disdain for Tina and her family (particularly when he learns that Barney did some prison time many years ago) shows that he has forgotten his roots.
Sunny Side Up was the Godber family’s “Lockdown Project” and originally appeared as an hour-long one-act play. It has been developed since then into a full-length play with an interval just long enough to allow for a pint of the New Vic’s beautiful Lymestone beer and a catch-up with a friend. It’s after this interval that we get to the real message of the play.
Graham gets chatting with Kelly (Martha Godber), a local woman who is staying at the B&B. Her life has been neither easy nor fulfilled, having drifted from one dead-end job to the next in a town with nothing to do beyond karaoke night at the Jolly Jack and offering very little prospect of a better future. As Graham suggests that education might offer her a route out of this rut he merely ends up digging himself a hole in which it becomes clear that for all his knowledge and qualifications he has very little understanding of how people like Kelly have to survive in the real world. As she puts it, “this country’s divided in two between them what’s got and them what’s not”.
There is some evidence that Graham “gets it” and after this exchange the tone lightens again as he begins to recognise the beauty of the area and reconnect with his roots.
One of the things I love about theatre is the way in which, in the right hands, the simplest of sets and a few props can be transformed into numerous settings. Here a square of floorcovering, a few chairs and a section of fencing become a B&B patio, Graham and Sue’s garden, the attic room, the coast at Gipton Crags and even – with the help of some blue lighting – a rockpool. The short musical interludes between the scenes were very effective; judging by the number of people joining in they were very popular too. Production design was by Graham Kirk with Elizabeth Godber as Stage Manager. The Assistant Director was Neil Sissons.
Sunny Side Up is a funny play – a very funny play – with a deadly serious message. North Staffordshire might be a long way from the coast, but Godber’s portrayal of a “left behind” town will certainly have resonated here. The audience’s warm applause at the end was well deserved.
Reviewer - Ian Simpson
on - 26.10.21
No comments:
Post a Comment