Jun 9th

If I Were You by Alan Ayckbourn at the Richmond Theatre

By Carolin Kopplin

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Men live in a sort of fantasy land.

The subject of Ayckbourn’s 70th play is once again the unbridgeable gulf between men and women. Neglected Jill seems resigned to being trapped in a tedious marriage to male chauvinist Mal. Any meaningful communication between the two has ceased a long time ago and the only sounds emerging from Mal are animal noises. While Jill is suffocating in her zombie-like existence Mal is having an extramarital affair with a girl named Trixie who he usually sees during lunch break. Mal has a good relationship with his daughter Chrissie – the disappointment of her being a girl faded when she reached top of her class. However, he has serious issues with his son Sam who does not live up to his expectations:  Sam prefers acting to real man pastimes like playing football. Mal is far more impressed with his son-in-law Dean who considers himself "a girl’s best friend” but comes across as a younger and meaner version of Mal. Jill’s and Mal’s marriage seems to be heading for the rocks but Jill’s desperate prayer before settling for sleep on an especially dreadful day changes everything. As the first act closes the pair wakes to discover that Mal is now inhabiting his wife's body and she has switched to his.

Unfortunately, the transformation does not occur until midway through the play which leaves the first half too long. Establishing the characters and their relationships is important but the first act seems to be dragging on and appears to be too melodramatic. However, the second act is gloriously funny and makes one forget the weaker first half. It is absolutely hilarious to watch Liza Goddard swearing, belching and punching their wife battering son-in-law Dean. The new „Jill“ proves a completely incompetent housekeeper who cannot even find the sugar leave alone change a hoover bag. Jack Ellis as „Mal“ does not take recourse to effeminate gestures but impersonates Goddard’s Jill with great sensitivity and a subtle sense of humour.  Watching the couple's son, played by David Osmond, reacting to the strange behaviour of his parents is delightful. In a touching scene "Mal" who had never really cared for his son makes Sam a sandwich and shows an interest in his theatre aspirations.

1 June to 5 June 2010, 7.45 pm. Matinees: Wed and Sat at 2.30 pm
Richmond Theatre
The Green, Richmond, Surrey
TW9 1QJ
http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1799/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/If-I-Were-You

 

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Nov 1st

Bedroom Farce at the Rose Theatre in Kingston

By Carolin Kopplin

Peter Hall sets this successful revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s  social comedy “Bedroom Farce” in the 1970s – a distant age without mobile phones, ipods or even the internet. Three bedrooms, side by side, fill the Rose Theatre stage and allow us a peep into the lives of four married couples.

The elderly couple Delia (Jane Asher) and Ernest (Nicholas Le Prevost) are getting ready for their yearly dinner at a fancy restaurant.  Delia tries to discuss their son Trevor’s marital problems but Ernest is more interested in the leaky roof.  Jan (Lucy Briers) is off to a housewarming party whilst her husband Nick (Tony Gardner) is grounded with a bad back.  Malcolm (Daniel Betts) and Kate (Finty Williams) are playing childish pranks on each other whilst waiting for their first guests to arrive. Chaotic Trevor (Orlando Seale) and his unstable wife Susannah embark on a journey of destruction by successfully ruining their party with a savage fight culminating in Trevor kissing Jan. A distraught Susannah disrupts Delia’s and Ernest’s romantic dinner in bed and Trevor rushes to Jan only to fall asleep on Nick’s bed, making Nick’s night pure agony.

Prepare yourself for a highly entertaining evening with an outstanding cast in Ayckbourn’s exploration of marriage and beyond.

The Rose Theatre, Kingston

1 Oct – 28 Nov 2009

See Tickets - 0871 230 1552

www.rosetheatrekingston.org

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Jul 18th

"The Norman Conquests" is a wry sophisticated comedy, in the inimitable Ayckbourn style. By Lucy Komisar

By Douglas McFarlane

  "The Norman Conquests" is a wry sophisticated comedy, in the inimitable Ayckbourn style.

By Lucy Komisar

Alan Ayckbourn's "The Norman Conquests" is an ultra-sophisticated comedy that verges perilously close to sitcom, then skirts around it. The round-robin of three plays is what the clever British author posits against the normal sequential serial, a "Rashomon" style retake of the same events from the viewpoint of different locations rather than different people. The Old Vic Theatre Company gives the tri-part event an engaging revival, returning it to Broadway after 35 years. It is not the slightest bit dated.

"The Norman Conquests," company at dinner. Photo by Joan Marcus.

The characters move between the garden, the living room and the dining room, and we see in each play only what occurs in those venues. When someone moves from the living room to the dining room, he's moving to another play. Seeing one play is enough to understand the script. Seeing all of them deepens your sense of the characters and understanding of their connections.

The action is often slapstick, but the characters are so skillfully and sympathetically drawn, that it rises far above what sitcom and slapstick denote on television or routinely dumb movies.

The goings-on take place at the upscale English country house of an invalid lady we never see, though we learn that she had a spirited life and now reads torrid novels. She lives with her unmarried daughter Annie (Jessica Hynes), who alas has a rather tepid though likeable boyfriend Tom (Ben Miles), a veterinarian, who seems to exercise more passion for the cat in the tree than for Annie.

Stephen Mangan as Norman in "The Norman Conquests." Photo by Richard Termine.

So she has agreed to a secret weekend assignation with her brother-in-law Norman, the extremely appealing Stephen Mangan, a shaggy dog sort of fellow who sports slovenly clothes and a wool ski cap. To take care of mom, Annie has invited her brother Reg (Paul Ritter) and his wife Sarah (Amanda Root) to visit.

Of course, nothing goes according to plan, and in the unraveling of the great weekend, we learn that Annie isn't the only disappointed soul. The marriage of Reg, a real estate agent, and Sarah, a complaining housewife, is stale and full of bickering. Ruth (Amelia Bullmore), Norman's wife, shows up in a hot red dress to complete the twosomes. She has a serious business career, and her stormy relationship with her immature, wise-cracking assistant librarian spouse (their jobs shows clear status divisions) appears to be saved by hot sex. Or "uncontrollable animal lust," as it's described. Norman's interest in other women certainly confirms the uncontrollable part.

Amelia Bullmore as Ruth in "The Norman Conquests." Photo by Richard Termine.

Sex is a subject that is pursued or thought about by various players, though, in spite of some good-natured rolling around on the floor, this is not a risqué production. In fact, it's mostly about how none of the six really get what he or she wants.

The play rises on the excellent ensemble acting. Bullmore is very good as the assertive, touchy, seething Ruth. So is Ben Miles as the always timid, nervous, embarrassed Tom. He presents the funniest inept marriage proposal I've ever seen. Stephen Mangan's supple, moving face is theater in itself. Amanda Root channels the tight-lipped wound-up Sarah. Paul Ritter is good as the wry, fast-talking Reg, and Jessica Hynes is has you rooting for her as the slightly dowdy put-upon Annie.

Ayckbourn's language, of the sort you don't hear on any telly, raises all to a higher level. Take Ruth declaring, "People you think won't last long cling on grimly till death." But the wit is in the situations, not the language.

Designer Rob Howell theater-in-the-round sets totally surrounded by the audience bring you into a level of intimacy that stops only short of reaching out for a cup of tea or coffee at the dining table.


"The Norman Conquests."

Written by Alan Ayckbourn, directed by Matthew Warchus.
The Old Vic Theatre Company at Circle in the Square, 50th Street between Bway & 8th Avenue.
212-239-6200
Opened April 23, 2009; Closes July 25, 2009.
Round & Round the Garden reviewed by Lucy Komisar April 13, 2009.

Living Together reviewed by Lucy Komisar May 7, 2009.
Table Manners reviewed by Lucy Komisar May 8, 2009.
http://www.normanconquestsonbroadway.com/

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May 29th

Relatively Speaking at Manchester Library Theatre

By Caroline May

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It’s becoming something of a tradition for The Library Theatre to end their season with an Alan Ayckbourn comedy, and this is one of his best, a gentle farce of mistaken identities and sexual misdemeanours dating from the mid 1960s.

With its finger on the pulse of the decade’s changing mores and loosening morals, the opening scene shows us Ginny’s classic single-girl flat in swinging London, complete with psychedelic colour scheme, flimsy white furniture, and a narrow bed occupied by her latest lover, Greg.  While Greg himself has only just started to swing, so to speak, Ginny is practised in promiscuity and is still clearing up the detritus, both physical and emotional, from several past affairs.  But phantom phone calls, mysterious bouquets and an inexplicable pair of slippers lead Greg to wonder whether these boyfriends really are exes, so he decides to stalk Ginny down to the country when she goes to visit her parents for the day.

Later, somewhere in the Home Counties, the rakish Philip is trying to convince his long-suffering wife Sheila that a forthcoming trip to Europe is purely for business purposes and certainly not for pleasure, when a strange young man appears on their patio.  And because by 1965 formal introductions have gone out of the window, Greg (for it is he) assumes these are his future in-laws, Sheila thinks Greg is a work colleague of her husband, and Philip concludes that this must be his wife’s lover – obviously.  Then Ginny arrives, and things become even more complicated.

Ayckbourn’s plot is extremely clever in setting up confused identities and outrageous assumptions while nailing the traits and tics of the middle-classes, in this instance the ritual of Sunday lunch.  There can be a tendency for his characters and situations can seem slightly stereotypical, but in this production the design, direction and playing are filled with real life and heart. 

Simon Harrison is the gawky innocent Greg, wearing a permanent air of amiable goodwill and costumes ranging from improvised loincloth to frilly apron.  Leila Crerar invests the cynical and worldly (and beautifully dressed) Ginny with a humour and warmth that prevent her from being the super-bitch she will probably become.  And although Lucy Tregear and Malcolm Scates as Sheila and Philip at first appear prickly and unsympathetic when they sit down to their unsatisfactory breakfast, their characters soften as the morning wears on until their marriage actually seems worth caring about.

Designer Judith Croft has recreated Ginny’s bedroom as a 1960s nostalgia-fest, while the glorious sun-drenched back-garden makes you want to reach for the factor 30.  Chris Honer’s revival is the most enjoyable Ayckbourn I can ever remember seeing, ending the Library Theatre’s adventurous season on a high. 

 

 

Relatively Speaking is on until Saturday 20 June 2009

Prices: £9.80-£18.10

Eves: Mon-Thurs @ 7.30, Fri & Sat @ 8pm

Matinees: Thurs & Sat @ 3pm

Box Office: 0161 236 7110

www.librarytheatre.com

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