A JOURNEY TO LONDON To 11 February.

Richmond.

A JOURNEY TO LONDON
by John Vanbrugh and James Saunders.

Orange Tree Theatre 1 Clarence Street TW9 To 21 January then 6-11 February 2006 no performance 2 Jan.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 4pm & 5 Jan 2.30pm.
Audio-described 14 Jan 4pm.

TICKETS: 020 8940 3633.
www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 December.

Is it a classic? Is it a modern play? Could it be a modern classic?
Sir John Vanbrugh may not have seen any impelling reason to continue this play when he laid down his pen mid-scene years before his death in 1726, but in the mid-1970s the late James Saunders did. Tweaking the script and continuing it in a manner reminiscent of the 1700s while introducing the preoccupations of the 1970s, it’s revived as the Orange Tree celebrates a playwright closely connected with it (in the performance gap come double bills of shorter Saunders plays).

Vanbrugh was playing on a subject that delighted London audiences: the fleecing of innocent rural visitors. Here, especially in Saunders’ hands (most of the play is his) emotional rather than financial despoliation is uppermost. His 20th century voice finally pulls relationships together, based on equality of emotional generosity – the other matter (which Saunders mentions), the financial dependency of most women, is something that can’t be twisted out of history.

Saunders shifts the balance of action and words in the latter’s favour: it becomes a play of less dash and more discussion after he takes over, perhaps accounting for a growing feel of French influence: Marivaux in particular, though an assignation in a colourfully-lanterned summerhouse recalls Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro, a piece that shares the emotional adjustments Saunders evolves.

There are hints in the Vanbrugh opening too of the split between appearance and reality which fascinated Saunders throughout his plays. It’s built into theatre anyway, (particularly, a strain of French drama) and Saunders increasingly teases the audience by elaborating or extending Vanbrugh’s references. What begins as the country cousins’ inability to see beneath London layers of sophistication (their innocent opening comments recur chorically in Saunders’ ending) is extended to the whole nature of the characters who appear before us (the women, particularly in costumes that are a palimpsest of 18th and 20th century clothing). At times, it’s strained; Saunders could extend his hand too obviously in this direction. Elsewhere it plays beautifully against the teasing continuity of his linguistic pastiche

Needless to say, director Sam Walters handles all this and a fine, large cast on the Orange Tree’s small stage flawlessly.

Uncle Richard: Thomas Wheatley.
James/Lord Loverule: Peter Forbes.
Mrs Motherly: Joanna Van Gyseghem.
Martilla: Claudia Elmhirst.
Lady Arabella Loverule: Fiona Mollison.
Colonel Courtly: John Hodgkinson.
Sir Charles/George: Paul Goodwin.
Captain Toupee/John Moody: Robert Benfield.
Sir Francis Headpiece: John Paul Connelly.
Lady Headpiece: Mairead Carty.
Humphry Headpiece: Nick Earnshaw.
Betty Headpiece: Sophie Trott.

Director: Sam Walters.
Designer: Sam Dowson.
Lighting: Kevin Leach.
Assistant director: Imogen Bond.

2006-01-01 21:14:10