PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES to 11 July

Northampton.

PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES
by Alan Ayckbourn.

Royal and Derngate To 11 July 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 2pm & 2 July 2.30pm
except 10 July 7pm & 10pm.
Audio-described 30 June.
BSL Signed 1 July.
Runs: 1hr 50min No interval.

TICKETS: 01604 624811.
www.royalandderngate.co.uk
Review: Ian Spiby 24 June 2009.

EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE OF UNUSUAL AYCKBOURN
Premiered in 2004, this is only the third professional production in the UK. It marks a change in style for the playwright, consisting of 54 scenes in six distinct locations with one neutral space, and played without an interval. In many ways though, we are in familiar Ayckbourn territory with his bleak outlook on human relationships. Six people live their unrewarding lives, occasionally touching briefly, but ultimately ending up alone in various stages of unhappiness.

Put like that, it sounds bleak indeed, but what is so remarkable is that the combined skills of playwright, director and actors serve to keep us fascinated from beginning to end. By this stage in his career, Ayckbourn’s ability to characterize is highly developed. Not only this but he is able, also, to create tension and humour out of the most apparently mundane situations - the drunken bore talking to the barman in a hotel bar; the volunteer carer sitting for an elderly bed-ridden patient; or the man watching a video by himself at home.

In order to overcome the difficulty of creating a multi-locational set within his traditional Victorian theatre, director, Laurie Sansom moves the audience onto the stage and places the set and actors among them, thus taking theatre-in-the-round, for which the play is written, to its ultimate conclusion. The audience seating also is incorporated into the set with padded plastic cubes in the nightclub area, kitchen chairs in the kitchen area, sagging sofas in the living room area, and cushions on the floor of the neutral space.

The advantage of this is to create an immediacy which allows us intimate access into the lives of the characters, all, without exception, played beautifully by the cast. The disadvantage is the various degrees of discomfort experienced by the spectators. Those who manage to sit on the sofas are the luckiest while the people on the floor cushions suffer the most.

This is an excellent production but seats are unreserved so get there early and bag a sofa.

Charlotte: Lucy Briers.
Stewart: Matthew Cottle.
Imogen: Laura Doddington.
Nicola: Ruth Gibson.
Dan: Christopher Harper.
Ambrose: Kim Wall.

Director: Laurie Sansom.
Designer: Nicolai Hart-Hansen.
Lighting: James Farncombe.
Sound: Adrienne Quartly.
Costume: Bridget Brown.

2009-06-29 10:26:13