INDEPENDENT MEANS. To 22 November.
Manchester.
INDEPENDENT MEANS
by Stanley Houghton.
Library Theatre To 22 November 2008.
Mon-Thu 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 3pm.
Audio-described 15 Nov 3pm, 19 Nov.
BSL Signed 6 Nov 7.30pm.
Captioned 11 Nov.
Runs 2hr One interval.
TICKETS: 0161 236 7110.
www.librarytheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 30 ~October.
Marriage and economics clearly laid-out in a fascinating revival.
Annie Horniman was no baglady; not even a teabag lady. Tea here’s measured out in spoonfuls by Jane, the domestic servant who inherits a fortune yet isn’t too proud to help domestically when visiting her former employers.
Miss Horniman, though, inherited her family’s tea-business fortune, funding theatre in London and Dublin before, in 1908, setting-up England’s first repertory at the Victorian Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, a prompt-call away from today’s Library.
Among her writers were Harold Brighouse and Stanley Houghton, who died young in 1913. His best-known play Hindle Wakes is on the side of youth and (like Brighouse’s work) features an independent-minded young woman. So does Independent Means.
At first Houghton seems to intrude unhappy newlyweds into blissful post-Victorian domesticity. But it’s soon apparent the older couple have the discontents, smoothed-over by their rapidly-disappearing affluence. And the younger, provoked by the loss of the family income, have to struggle towards a more modern perception of marriage.
No rabbits emerge from hats; there are no sudden conversions and it takes a long time for young Sidney to start paternalistic husband Edgar moving beyond his preconceptions. Houghton’s influenced quite clearly in his tale of modern life by Ibsen (A Doll’s House particularly) and Shaw - Man and Superman is present in name and spirit.
The women in Chris Honer’s strong revival are all fine, from Sarah Parks’ Jane, enjoying her wealth with the most benevolent of innocent natures, to Ruth Gibson’s Sidney, asserting her modern principles with politeness and showing love can make the most determined of people lose their equilibrium.
Among the older men, Richard Albrecht’s car-dealer seems initially awkward, as the character is in the old world. But his modern trade finds its place as Albrecht acquires ease in the final act (with its own Shavian echo of the close of Mrs Warren’s Profession), while Rupert Frazer descends to staginess as his character goes off the rails.
Despite the Library’s technical limitations Sarah Williamson’s settings make the play’s point, moving from the potted-plant, floral wallpaper comfort of the Forsyth house to the modernist textures and shapes of Albrecht’s workplace.
Mrs Forsyth: Olwen May.
Jane Gregory: Sarah Parks.
John Forsyth: Rupert Frazer.
Edgar Forsyth: Geoff Breton.
Sidney Forsyth: Ruth Gibson.
Samuel Ritchie: Richard Albrecht.
Director: Chris Honer.
Designer: Sarah Williamson.
Lighting: David W Kidd.
Sound: Paul Gregory.
Assistant director: Christos Chanios.
2008-11-03 17:00:46