A TRIP TO SCARBOROUGH. To 8 March.
Scarborough.
A TRIP TO SCARBOROUGH
by Alan Ayckbourn – variations on the original play by R B Sheridan
Stephen Joseph Theatre (The Round) To 5 January.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & 27 Dec 2.30pm.
no performance 24-25 Dec, 1 Jan.
then tour to 8 March 2008.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKETS: 01723 370541.
www.sjt.uk.com (Scarborough performances).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 December.
Three ages of man in one skilful plot – with a band.
This isn’t likely to end up one of Alan Ayckbourn’s major scripts. Its origins are too particular. But it’s a fascinating piece, here in the Round at Scarborough, and no doubt on its proscenium arch tour in early 2008. The grand staircase that slopes around audience members on one side of the Stephen Joseph’s auditorium seems ready for the touring set, even if it’s less likely to remind audiences countrywide of Scarborough’s Royal Hotel.
Yet, if Sheridan hadn’t chosen Scarborough from England’s health spas for his 1777 rewrite of Sir John Vanbrugh’s cruel 1696 comedy The Relapse and included the town in his new title, it’s doubtful this play (itself an adaptation to the age of the mobile ‘phone of Ayckbourn’s original 1982 script) would exist.
Sheridan wrote the play from commercial necessity. He’d just gone into management at Drury Lane Theatre, one of London’s two notoriously tough-to-run big playhouses, and something not entirely new must have had audience appeal. But, cruel laughter no longer being fashionable, Sheridan turned it into a sentimental comedy.
Ayckbourn adopts, and adapts, the plot, latching comedy onto intrigue. Relocating the action to the Scarborough Hotel, the sexual adventures and money-spinning schemes of Sheridan’s age coexist with stories involving skulduggery and cheating from the Second World War (‘Our Finest Hour’) and the present day.
Ayckbourn is rare today in his ability to balance the worlds of tension and laughter. Like film director Alfred Hitchcock, he’s expert at dealing with the fruitful interconnection of criminal purpose and comedy, as characters from three ages refract each other. Some manifestations are sketches, others fully developed. Sheridan’s shenanigans acquire a sinister edge for the wartime-zone and a David Mamet like complexity in the modern day, where Sheridan’s manuscript finds a place.
Dominic Hecht and Adrian McLoughlin’s porters tactfully unite the strands, Katie Foster-Barnes confirms her promise from summer’s Relatively Speaking and Terence Booth invests the modern scenes with a sense of threat. It may not ultimately be classic Ayckbourn, but it’s as ingenious a comedy-thriller as you’ll meet these days and, as always, it tells us something about ourselves.
Holly Tunberry/Mrs Holland/Miss Hoyden: Katie Foster-Barnes.
Pestle: Dominic Hecht.
Gander: Adrian McLoughlin.
John Townly/Capt Townly/Col Townly: Ben Lambert.
Mr Love/Maj Loveless/Mr Loveless: Ben Fox.
Mrs Love/Amanda/Mrs Loveless: Sarah Moyle.
Tim Farmer/Flt Lt Faversham/Tom Fashion: Richard Stacey.
Bill Lorimer/Flt Sgt Lawkins/lorry: Marc Small.
Sir George Tunn berry/Wing Cmdr Tunbry/Sir Tunbelly Clumsy: Robert Austin.
Muriel Tunberry/Mrs Coopland/Nurse: Lavinia Bertram.
Lance Foppington/Len Foppington/Lord Foppington: Terence Booth.
Mel: Peter F Gardiner.
Don: Denis King.
Ray: Alexander King.
Hotel Guest: Lily Asquith/Sheree Barker.
Director: Alan Ayckbourn.
Designer: Michael Holt.
Lighting: Jason Taylor.
Music/Musical Director: Denis King.
Choreographer: Sheila Carter.
Fight director: Alison de Burgh.
2007-12-26 00:40:03