MAIL ORDER BRIDE. To 30 October.

Oldham

MAIL ORDER BRIDE
by James Robson

Coliseum Theatre To 30 October 2004
Tue-Thu;Sat 7.30pm Fri 8pm Mat 30 Oct 2.30pm
Audio-described 27 Oct
BSL Signed 28 Oct
Runs 2hr 35min One interval

TICKETS: 0161 624 2829
www.coliseum.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 23 October

A strong play well revived.One result of modern highly stylised theatre is that detailed realism, where art conceals art, can tend to come apart at the seams. In all but the most precisely-judged productions the conscious pattern supporting the real-seeming surface shows through. Yet even while it's possible on a re-viewing (this is the third time I've encountered James Robson's drama) to detect the plot set-ups, the well laid-out contrasting aspects of character and the contours of tension in the action, the play holds together, defying dissection to murder its carefully-nurtured life.

Time's already made this 10-year vintage play seem quaint. Now it would be an e-mail order bride severely middle-aged North Yorkshire bachelor farmer Martin would be seeking, rather than a postal arrangement made on the back of a video featuring an array of potential wives for Englishmen among Filippino women.

Martin buys everything mail-order, keeping life at a distance. As does his sister Ivy, retired from teaching either because of the local school's closure or (she gives both explanations) troublesome children. Even the young married couple who work on the farm and in the farmhouse are her ex-pupils.

She's soon known as 'poison Ivy' to Maria the young woman who arrives to find Martin is considerably older than the photo he'd sent her. A battle of wills soon develops and it's the vocally forceful Ivy who increasingly appears weak against Maria's quiet assertiveness. But, as with other aspects of his characters, Robson never allows the situation to stand still for long.

Martin is very much a Russell Dixon creation, bitterness and suppressed emotion spilling pressurised through the surface. After Ivy's continued nagging about the marriage, Robson, in a dramatic masterstroke, has Maria deliver the final verdict on it; the plot gives the denouement to the sister, but the argument goes to the fiancee. And the ultimate vision of what's lost by doing right appears in Martin himself, as Dixon finds a terrible vulnerability in the character.

Alison Heffernan's solid farmhouse set speaks of a tradition and continuity that's shown even in Martin's computer, its data going back to his father's time. And Kevin Shaw's production finds most of the detail in the script. It's a pity he has not directed Roberta Darr's Ivy - obvious candidate for sour, unsympathetic character - to more of the moments of contrasting humanity she shows early on.

And Richard Oldham's go-nowhere farm-worker might have more desperation in him. As his wife, Lorraine Bruce shows how much a silence or a look can coney; this is a fine picturew of resignation mixed with disappointment in herself.

And Gina Respall's Maria is superbly realised in this production, the balance of mendacity and honesty precisely caught. It's a strong play well revived.

June: Lorraine Bruce
Martin: Russell Dixon
Ivy: Roberta Carr
Jo: Richard Oldham
Maria: Gina Respall

Director: Kevin Shaw
Designer: Alison Heffernan
Lighting: Phil Davies
Sound: Daniel Ogden

2004-10-24 17:17:08