MADAME'S LATE MOTHER and A HOUSE BATH To 18 July.
London.
MADAME’S LATE MOTHER and A HOUSE BATH
by Georges Feydeau
Tabard Theatre To 18 July 2009.
7.30pm
Runs 1hr 35min One interval.
TICKETS: 08448 472264.
www.tabardtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 July.
Home-hell as pretensions give way.
Unhappy marriages make comedies; sexual desperation lunges them towards farce. And when a strained marriage finally loses its respectable patina, adults can display childish fury and petulance, which uses anything around as a weapon. Échange Theatre’s new English versions of these one-act Feydeau farces (apparently collaborative; no translator is individually credited) show all this in action.
Madame’s Late Mother focuses on the childishness. Yvonne’s annoyed when her husband comes home at 4am. Or ten-past four. Arguing over the minutes, they ignore the hour. And the way their behaviour denies their maid a night’s sleep. Early morning news of a death in the family leads to arguments and sombre preparations, undermined when matters change again.
Lust and frustrated desire course through A House Bath, where darkness excites passion, and the jealous desire for revenge sends characters to the dangerous edge of dalliance as they plunge accidentally into the bath, a symbol of sexual desire rather than a sign of bodily cleanliness.
Échange have done a service in making these two plays available in English, reminding how Feydeau could illuminate human absurdity as his characters drive themselves to create mountains from molehills or pursue anything in aid of sexual gratification. Pride’s thrown in; passions first rise in Madame’s Late Mother when Yvonne feels her husband doesn’t appreciate her breasts sufficiently.
There’s vivacity in both productions, and moments in each when laughter hits home, though the young performers don’t have the physical skill (or weren’t encouraged to display it with sufficient rigour) to make the most of the plays’ rhythms, or to exploit the interplay of actions and reactions. As they play the cruelty and cynicism as well as the sugar-coating of humour, acting varies considerably and generally there’s a need for more pointing and precision, especially in delivery of lines.
Yet as id and ego battle it out, and chaotic desires erupt through the ordered world of marriage, home and servants, Feydeau’s dark landscape is starkly revealed. In staging these plays, Échange gives a chance to see how very un-Belle this Epoque was when seen at close quarters and behind closed doors.
Madame’s Late Mother:
Yvonne: Fanny Dulin.
Lucien: David Furlong.
Annette: Emma West.
Joseph: Niall Costigan.
Director: Samuel Miller.
A House Bath:
Catulle: David Furlong.
Adelaide: Fanny Dulin.
Laurence: Emma West.
Cocarel: Niall Costigan.
Director: Gael Colin.
2009-07-17 01:15:21