CHARLEY'S AUNT. To 2 September.
Oxford
CHARLEY’S AUNT
by Brandon Thomas
Oxford Playhouse To 2 September 2006
Mon-Thu; Sat 7.30pm Fri 8pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm
Audio-described 2 Sept 2.30pm
Pre-show talk 22 August 6.15pm
Post-show talk 30 Aug
Runs 2hr 35min Two intervals
TICKETS: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 August
Relatively – and absolutely- a fine production.
Brandon Thomas’s farce is set in an Oxford College; given the fashion for site-specific theatre it’s surprising Oxford Playhouse hasn’t decamped to nearby academe for its latest in-house production. Instead, Timothy Sheader’s revival boasts a proscenium-front announcing The Royalty Theatre, the London venue where the play had its proper premiere (after a hacked-about tryout) in 1892.
The hacking had been done by William Penley, the actor who suggested the play, wanting, “plenty of fun in it and a touch of sentiment”. Both are amply evident at the Playhouse, aided by Jonathan Fensom’s detailed design.
As Fancourt Babberley, the student persuaded to doll up as a friend’s aunt back from Brazil when the lady herself doesn’t arrive to chaperone a meeting between a pair of students and their girls, Nick Caldecott doesn’t go with the he-man in petticoats that Griff Rhys Jones presented so well at Hammersmith. Caldecott’s slighter frame has the convincing femininity of a Buster Keaton; a grey-wigged, slight figure, subtly distinguished in female guise from the quick-moving student with comically quick facial reactions bookending the impersonation.
This allows Penley’s “touch of sentiment”, kept this aside of sentimentality. Key to Sheader’s success is the co-habitation of near-surrealist Victorian gags (Fancourt suddenly bending his knees following his famous comment about Brazil and nuts, after his friends have kicked his knees the first twice he says it) with genuine feeling for Ela, who turns up unexpected in the real aunt’s train.
Sheader casts 2 fine newcomers as the students who set the plot going; Charlie Walker-Wise and Leon Williams have the style and precision for farce. In contrast, the very experienced Russell Dixon gives a peach of a performance as college servant Brassett, who knows what students are like while looking out for himself, his knowing looks to the audience never becoming excessive.
Fine work from Patrick Ryecart and Christopher Good as contrasting elders, Christina Greatrex as an aunt anyone might want, plus Ellie Beaven making the most limited role matter as much as the other young women (the suitably proper and willing Emma Callander and Dulcie Lewis). A treasurable revival.
Jack Chesney: Charlie Walker-Wise
Brassett: Russell Dixon
Charles Wykeham: Leon Williams
Lord Fancourt Babberley: Nick Caldecott
Kitty Verdun: Emma Callander
Amy Spettigue: Dulcie Lewis
Colonel Sir Francis Chesney: Patrick Ryecart
Stephen Spettigue: Christopher Good
Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez: Christina Greatrex
Ela Delahay: Ellie Beaven
Director: Timothy Sheader
Designer: Jonathan Fensom
Lighting: Tim Mitchell
Assistant director: Adam Penfold
2006-08-21 10:34:39