ALL THE ORDINARY ANGELS. To 19 November.

Manchester

ALL THE ORDINARY ANGELS
by Nick Leather

Royal Exchange Theatre To 19 November 2005
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Sat 8pm Mat Wed 2.30pm & Sat 4pm
Audio-described 14 November
Post-show discussion 17 November
Runs 2hr 25min One interval

TICKETS: 0161 833 9833
boxoffice@royalexchange.co.uk
www.royalexchange.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 5 November

Ice-cream civil wars in a world where even the angelic becomes down-to-earth.
New writing’s been a consistent theme of Royal Exchange programming, at times with drama more aggressive than some audience-members appreciate. Nick Leather’s new play is unlikely to raise any hackles. A lively comedy, it belies its subject – the fault-lines in a Manchester-Italian ice-cream making family during the politically changing world of late 1989 - by being ultimately warm-hearted. And it starts with pure comedy as Lulu, a temp, releases one of owner Guiseppe’s sons, Lino, from the box where brother Rocco regularly imprisons him on his birthday. As he’s been left there naked, there’s discreet use of her exiguous leather jacket for his escape.

Though Leather’s stronger on situations and dialogue than on consistent character-led plot development, this scene sets up several characters: Rocco’s aggressive nature (“What’s in it for Rocco?” is his regular response when asked to do anything), Lino’s passivity and the sparky unpredictability that runs alongside helpfulness in Lulu. She says a lot without pinning herself down (it’s unsurprising she’s never lasted to day 2 in a job), warning impressionable Lino against herself, giving the secret ingredient that brings the Raffa family ice-cream business fortune and a fall to Rocco in a whisper and reiterating throughout her face-off with Rocco’s wife Bernie the demand for the piece of cake she was offered alongside coffee in the invite to the women’s meeting.

Lucy Gaskell catches all this with quick, constant movements – hands in pockets, she compulsively flashes her jacket open and shut in a moment - in-the-moment flicks of thought and a laugh that sometimes seems not to know its own cause. Sarah Ball’s Bernie’s the opposite, contemplating situations, patiently working towards her point with Lulu, giving a perspective of sense to Rocco’s opportunism. Al Weaver’s fresh-faced Lino, Craig Cheetham as a sharp-featured, ultimately bemused Rocco and Peter Polycarpou’s self-contained patriarch all enhance proceedings.

Michael Buffong’s well-paced production catches character and humour, while Es Devlin’s design, built largely on boxes, is better at overall ambiance than creating specific locales outside the factory. With another new Manchester play in the studio, the Exchange is doing its home city proud.

Lino: Al Weaver
Lulu: Lucy Gaskell
Bernie: Sarah Ball
Rocco: Craig Cheetham
Guiseppe: Peter Polycarpou

Director: Michael Buffong
Designer: Es Devlin
Lighting: Johanna Town
Sound: Steve Brown
Choreographer: Shobna Gulati
Costume: Emma Williams
Fights: Renny Krupinski
Dialect coach: Mark Langley

2005-11-06 12:55:04