Quartet at Richmond Theatre
 

Published by: Tremayne

The opening scene introduces us to three of the four characters.  Cissy (Gwen Taylor) is sat on the sofa, in what we later establish is the dayroom of a residential home. She is listening to Rigoletto on her discman, all the while Wilf (Timothy West) and Reg (Edward Hardwicke) are coming out with sexually fuelled language. That is right up to the point where Cissy  removes her headphones. Having been  under a trance-type state by the music, she  breathes “I’m ready!” out loud, almost as if she had been following the two men’s conversation.

A subtle contrast is made between Sadness and Comedy when we are introduced to the fourth character, Jean (Susannah York), Reg’s ex-wife. We learn she had been admitted to the home through charitable aid, having once been a much respected opera singer.

Reg gets his own back on his ex-wife when he turns up unexpectedly. He reminds her of the time when he shared with her father that they were splitting up and his father’s response was: “Sorry old chap but count your blessings, I’m married to her mother!”

I loved Reg’s philosophy on Art.  You might argue the writer used it like a tool to  steal back the scene after he has pulled a face full of disgust through the window at the nurse who had not allowed him his one luxury at breakfast time, marmalade.  She had  forced him to have apricot jam instead, knowing how much he detested it.

The residents are to become part of a musical gala and the four main, and only characters of the play, are to form a quartet and sing Puccini’s – Rigoletto, which they had once sung together professionally.  Jean’s initial reaction is: “democracy is nothing to do with art!, at which the interval curtain falls.

“We’re artists, we’re meant to celebrate life”, Reg remarks in Act II to Jean who appears cautious to get involved in the gala for fear of how it might effect or tarnish her career.  We come to learn the real reason for this later.

The scene dressers are cleverly disguised as doctors in their white coats, making them a part of the story.  This made a change from the usual black we normally see.

We then cut to the ladies dressing room.

“every great artist is nervous before their performance.  It’s their respect to the audience”, Jean reassures Cissy who is suffering from stage fright.

As an audience, we see that, despite the ageing process, women can still remain girlie girls who continue to discuss men and their sexual encounters.  And why not?!  Why should we assume that the older generation talk only of God and Death?!

We then move across to the men’s changing rooms where Wilf reads out the following quote, “Art is meaningless if it doesn’t make you feel”.  He has  found it on a scrap piece of paper screwed up into a small ball and stuffed inside the sock which he will stuff down his trousers to enhance his manhood.

The production is brought to a finale with the quartet being played out to us,  allowing the idea of the fourth wall to shine through.  Timothy West lip syncs to the background music particularly well, as do Susannah York and Gwen Taylor.

All-in-all an insightful look into the mind of an OAP!