PLAYING SINATRA till 7 September
London
PLAYING SINATRA
by Bernard Kops
New End Theatre To 7 September 2003
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sat/Sun 3.30pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7794 0022
www.newendtheatre.co.uk
Rreview: Timothy Ramsden 10 August
A sealed-off world of loneliness and need successfully uncovered in this revival.
Here's a chamber-piece if ever one was. New End's intimacy is well-suited to Kops' claustrophobic story even the opening in the theatre's rear stage-wall only takes us to the bedrooms where middle-age brother and sister Norman and Sandra sleep in cramped proximity.
It's a cheat, because their family home in Streatham, south London, is clearly meant to be more spacious than they need. But the relationship's hermetic. Sandra may go to her unloved job, but Norman's agoraphobic, working at home as a bookbinder and taking pride in the microwave cooking he prepares for the pair of them to eat side-by-side from a tray.
Enter, into Sandra's life and the siblings' home, smoothly cultured Phillip. Added to the tensions between brother and sister, are those between Phillip and resentful Norman, and increasingly questions about Phillip's impact on Sandra. Child-minded and able to be vicious when threatened, Norman turns out the most clear-sighted of the trio, as Kops plays with our expectations. The expected plot-line would be a tussle between the men for possession of Sandra. This is neatly reversed by the time of Phillip's final arrival.
Play or production rather over-makes a point by showing Norman initially coiled foetally on his desk. But as the end nears, when he and Sandra are similarly curled-up, the image reflects the way they've been tied to their mutually dependent life, she as unwilling to leave as he is to step outside.
And Miles Richardson's final position, feet on the table (just as he's got them metaphorically under the table), indicates his similarity to the others: pretence covering inadequacy. Both men present their differently unusual characters through technique and it takes time to see them as real. But Jennie Stoller works from the inside; Sandra toughest of the three it emerges is fully present from the start with minimal overt mannerism.
Playing Sinatra records and knowing Sinatra trivia is a way out of reality. David Salter's direction lets Kops' script unfold at a fair pace, marking the dilemmas each character faces and never giving away too much too early. A valuable revival.
Norman Lewis: David McAlister
Sandra Lewis: Jennie Stoller
Phillip De Groot: Miles Richardson
Director: David Salter
Designer/Costume: Julie Marabelle
Lighting: Mark Dymock
Sound: Peter Weitz
Choreographer: Iain Stuart-Ferguson
2003-08-13 09:34:37