A TOUCH OF THE SUN. To 8 July.
Oxford/Bristol
A TOUCH OF THE SUN
by N C Hunter
Oxford Playhouse To 1 July
Tue-Thu; Sat 7.30pm Fri 8pm mat Sat 2.30pm
then Bristol Old Vic 4-8 July 2006
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2pm
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com (Oxford)
0118 987 7877
www.bristol-old-vic.co.uk (Bristol)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 June
Mild-mannered drama in capable, though reticent production.
Once it seemed the theatrical revolution of 1956 had smashed reputations like Noel Coward and Terence Rattigan’s to smithereens. But that was nothing to the oblivion descending on Norman Hunter, though his brief moment of fifties glory seemed set to autodestruct anyway. Following Waters of the Moon and A Day by the Sea the playwright, seen as an English Chekhov, tailed away in the angry end of the decade with this vapid piece of self-pity.
Rant on Jimmy Porter, much is forgiven if this was the alternative. Hunter had previously thrived on star-casting and it may be a major actor could make schoolteacher Philip Lester enough a moral centre of gravity to give his beliefs, annoyance and arrogance 2 hours’ worth of sympathy. Jamie Newall handles the role well technically, the sense of failure showing in the lolloping stride, the unprovoked cheery manner and the calm surface of handling financial problems, but there’s little sympathy for his chain emotional crises.
The title refers to a brief holiday he, his wife Mary and their adolescent children are given by brother Denis, married to a wealthy Canadian (hard to realise how exotic Cannes then seemed). On this Mary’s touched by a wealthy admirer and son John’s offered a job which will take him from the school-mastering his father had planned for him; it all provokes Philip to an irate outburst against a fellow-guest.
The play’s no Browning Version; it moves grindingly on, its once subtle-seeming detail now predictable, its supposed Chekhovian atmosphere merely melancholy unripened into tragedy. Philip is petulantly arrogant towards his family, even keeping his truculent old father out of a moribund sense of duty.
Paula Stockbridge has a quiet authority as the dutiful Mary who briefly blossoms in the sun of Jonathan Keeble’s rich admirer. His social decorum comes over finely, but Joanna Read’s Salisbury Playhouse production is unwilling to let passion show, even momentarily, making Mary’s renunciation seem too easy.
Several good performances never meld to make maximum impact. And Hunter’s two-interval structure looks clumsy with just one break, interrupting the French-set middle act just as tension should be mounting.
Philip Lester: Jamie Newall
Schoolboy: Joe Westcott/Thomas Self
Mary Lester: Paula Stockbridge
Robert Lester: Terry Taplin
John Lester: Giles Cooper
Caroline Lester: Ellie Piercy
Margaret Lester: Caroline Head
Denis Lester: Ian Targett
Sir Joseph Vandenhoven: Phillip Manikum
Gerald Harcourt: Jonathan Keeble
Director: Joanna Read
Designer: Tim Meacock
Lighting: Mark Doubleday
Sound: Adrienne Quartly
Voice coach: Sally Hague
Assistant director: Jacqui Somerville
2006-06-30 01:57:07