THEATRE REVIEW: Quality Street - The New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

Whilst the Scottish novelist and playwright James Matthew Barrie is best known these days for his timeless classic “Peter Pan”, going back a century or so it was his play “Quality Street” which was at the forefront of the public imagination. It was so popular that in the 1930s, Halifax chocolatier Harold Mackintosh chose the name, supported by imagery from the play, as the branding for a new range of chocolates intended to be affordable to, and enjoyed by, the working class. “Quality Street” has been in and out of fashion since; my mum saw it performed in the U.S. in 1965, and in February 2020 Northern Broadsides began a fourteen-week tour of its production of the play.

That tour came to an abrupt end along with every other theatre production in the land just a month later. Thankfully a new three-month tour of the production began here at the New Vic on March 3rd.

Northern Broadsides is based in Halifax, and the company’s take on the play includes characters based on real-life workers from the Quality Street chocolate production line, portrayed by members of the cast. These workers appear at the beginning and end of each act and at scene changes, offering their comments on the action in what at first seems to be a “Gogglebox”-type way but which actually does help unravel some of the more complex elements of the plot as it develops.

Ah yes, the plot. The play is set at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, ten years after Phoebe Throssell (Paula Lane) and her soldier beau Valentine Brown (Aron Julius) were parted. When Brown returns from the conflict, now both an injured war hero and a qualified physician, he finds Phoebe – now regarded as an “old maid” for being unmarried at the advanced age of 30 – a bit disappointing.

Phoebe and her sister Susan (Louisa-May Parker) are schoolmistresses to the children of genteel parents – naughty children who run rings round them, as hilariously depicted by the three puppet children crafted by Beka Haigh. It is not an occupation which Phoebe particularly enjoys, but it is Brown’s reaction to her that spurs her into action as she determines to win back his affections by fair means or foul.

Phoebe metamorphoses into a glamorous alter-ego, her younger niece Livvy. Gone are her reserve, her dowdy spinster clothes and – crucially – her specs, and all around her are fooled. For a while at least…

Act Two begins with a spectacular ball at which all the ladies are dressed in brightly-coloured sparkling gowns based on the bold colours of Quality Street wrappers (and boots which clash, a nice touch) while the soldiers are resplendent in the red and white uniforms of the Regency period. Ben Wright’s choreography brings a curious but entertaining mixture of country dancing and disco to the ball which is attended not only by “Livvy” and Valentine but by the two local busybodies. The Misses Willoughby, Fanny (Jelani d’Aguilar) and Mary (Alicia McKenzie) bring their own delightful comedy to the proceedings as well as playing a crucial role in bringing about the dénouement. No spoilers here as to what that dénouement might be, but it does involve Valentine doing some very quick and very clever thinking.

The script is written in the Regency style of the period, meaning there are a lot of words, perhaps too many for the modern ear and so it can be difficult to follow in places – all credit to the cast though for learning such complex lines. That apart, it does deal with some serious issues which are relevant today – teachers unhappy after years in their chosen profession, and the double-standards expected of men and women, for instance.

Quality Street is Quality Entertainment! I really enjoyed this production and I hope this tour will place it firmly back in the public imagination.

Reviewer - Ian Simpson
on - 7.3.23