BEDROOM FARCE. To 29 June.
London
BEDROOM FARCE
by Alan Ayckbourn
Aldwych Theatre To 29 June 2002
Mon-Fri 7.30 Sat 8pm Mat Thur 2.30 & Sat 4pm
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS 0870 4000 805
Review Timothy Ramsden 9 April
Amusing revival of a once-hailed Ayckbourn provides period amusement.25 years ago it was the hoot of London – the newly opened National Theatre programmed extra matinees to accommodate demand, and it soon went whizzing round the repertory circuit.
Now it can seem a period piece, though this production follows hardish on Ayckbourn's own 2000 revival. What's still clear is how well he caught those early days of the self-obsessed society.
Despite the title, and a story that travels through three bedrooms, two of the three young married couples admit they rarely share a bed. Even practical joking, party-giving Malcolm and Kate find an unwelcome reality starts scratching away at their apparent happiness. Theirs is the only marital bed that's never shared, Malcolm falling asleep in front of his latest DIY disaster.
Presiding over these self-obsessed seventies young are Trevor's parents – Lez Brotherston's design raises their bedroom to fit the star billing. If their cold comfort, routine-bound life, where adventure means a midnight feast of pilchards on toast, is the future, the young have no reason for optimism.
Loveday Ingram's production marshals some fine performances, not least Briers' Ernest. Here's an actor who can make any moment sparkle, even picking up a book. Though that becomes a major comic feat for bedbound, back-wrenched Nick, another obsessional given an aptly self-important, whining, 'Why me?' performance by Nigel Lindsay.
There's a fine moment when he finds himself sharing a bed with his wife Jan's previous lover Trevor. And Jason Watkins, nestling between the married couple oblivious of the disruption he causes – a few formal 'sorries' apart - is a fine picture of self-absorption stretched beyond everyone else's limits.
If the male performances attract notice, it's probably because Ayckbourn finds most to ridicule in the men, though Samantha Spiro gives patient authority to the ever-sensible Jan and Suzy Aitchison pointedly captures the start of Kate's questioning.
Back in 1977 the play seemed to me less the riproaring comedy most found it, than a study in comic techniques - as so often with Ayckbourn, visual as much as verbal. There are details this production could develop but there's a lovely display of cramp from Jasper Britton's Malcolm, one which seems to test his newly-constructed desk's stability to the limit. It holds up – for the moment. Pretty much like the play it's in.
Ernest: Richard Briers
Delia: June Whitfield
Nick: Nigel Lindsay
Jan: Samantha Spiro
Malcolm: Jasper Britton
Kate: Suzy Aitchison
Trevor: Jason Watkins
Susannah: Rose Keegan
Director: Loveday Ingram
Designer: Lez Brotherston
Lighting: Paul Pyant
Sound: John Owens for Aura
Music: Paul Englishby
Fight director: Terry King
2002-04-10 00:01:09