HONEYMOON SUITE To 25 April.
Newcastle-under-Lyme.
HONEYMOON SUITE
by Richard Bean.
New Vic Theatre To 25 April 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 25 April 2.15pm.
no performance 22 April.
Audio-described 25 April 2.15pm.
Captioned 21 April.
Post-show Discussion 21 April.
Runs 2hr 5min One interval.
TICKETS: 01782 717962.
www.newvictheatre.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 April.
All adult life is here, and it’s no honeymoon.
When Richard Bean’s play premiered at London’s Royal Court five years ago, that austere playhouse seemed at first to be mellowing into Alan Ayckbourn-like realism. And Bean does employ an Ayckbournish strategy. When young newly-wed Irene tells her husband their honeymoon hotel-room’s double-bed looks made for sex, it’s actually holding their future selves, a half-century on. In-between, and occupying the room simultaneously, is the same pair a quarter-century into marriage.
They, struggling in the midst of adult life, are the only people not to get between the sheets. Young Irene and Eddie overcome shyness, while the divergent lives of the oldest pair find a temporary passionate moment. But life’s never simple. Ambition burns in intellectually bright Irene and in the practical force of trawlerman Eddie, scheming throughout his life. And their marriage, which might seem over before it’s begun, leaves love among the incompatibles.
After a season coping with plays more sympathetic to end-stage presentation, designer Lis Evans has one where the New Vic’s in-the-round is an advantage, as characters weave in-and-out of entrances around the stage, or align themselves ironically with their other-age counterparts in Tim Luscombe’s acute and strongly acted revival.
Luscombe makes the most of key moments. The strength within Natalie Burt’s nervous young bride, eventually revealing the ample underwear that passed for intimate back then, is clear as she calmly demands her new husband (George Banks) return the Penguin novel he’s torn from her.
Stood still, with authority, she’s the evident forerunner of Stephanie Turner’s successful Marfleet, in whom old love still finds accommodation, even for Colin Tarrant’s Witchell. His youthful energy freezes in age to fighting off life’s glancing blows with humour. In guilt-ridden middle-age Sherry Baines’ Izzy strikes out, while her intellect rescues Martin Miller’s distressed business-man, still bullishly determined to succeed.
Moments might do with more propulsion – unlike Ayckbourn, the action largely takes place offstage, or is implied in the contrasts between the three ages. But that’s a small matter in this revival of a play that uses its Bridlington setting and Hull characters to show how little life turns out a honeymoon.
Eddie: George Banks.
Irene: Natalie Burt.
Tits: Martin Miller.
Izzy: Sherry Baines.
Witchell: Colin Tarrant.
Marflkeet: Stephanie Turner.
Director: Tim Luscombe.
Designer: Lis Evans.
Lighting: Daniella Beattie.
Sound: James Earls-Davis.
Voice coach: Mark Langley.
Fight director: Kate Waters.
Assistant director: James Bounds.
2009-04-21 10:14:46