RATTLE OF A SIMPLE MAN. To 26 April.

Southampton/Guildford/Mold

RATTLE OF A SIMPLE MAN
by Charles Dyer

Nuffield Theatre To 12 April 2003
Mon-Thu 7.30pm Fri/Sat 8pm Mat 12 April 4pm
Audio-described 9 April, 12 April 4pm
BSL Signed 10 April then
13-19 April Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford 01483 440000
22-26 April Clwyd Theatr Cymru Mold 0845 330 3565
Runs 2hr 20min One interval

TICKETS: 023 80 671771 (Southampton)
Review Hazel Brown 21 March

Sexual politics of the 60’s still raise wry smiles in the 21st century.Charles Dyer’s huge hit from the early 1960’s deals with sex and relationships in such a way that it still raises wry smiles, even in these days of more liberal sexual mores. It is essentially a two-hander that relies much on the chemistry between the two main characters: Percy, a clumsy, awkward middle-aged virgin and the prostitute, Cyrenne, who takes him home.

Clive Mantle, portraying Percy as shy and repressed, is totally convincing as the clumsy, drunk football supporter who arrives in London to cheer on the team and have a good time in the big city. He engages our sympathies and creates most of the comedy with his bumbling innocence, but the paucity of his life back in Manchester is slowly revealed throughout the play.

Cyrenne - a vulnerable woman with the assumed air of sophistication of a woman about town in Samantha Robson's portrayal - is the prostitute who's picked him up as a possible punter in clubland and taken him back to her flat, only to find that he wants and needs more than just sex. Both characterisations contrast the actors' respective familiar TV personas: theatre as a valuable respite from type-casting.

Percy leaves the flat in the middle of the night and Ricard, Cyrenne’s brother - played with brutish physicality by Steve Brownlie - arrives and reveals the truth behind the veneer of Cyrenne’s fabricated life history. So, when Percy returns to collect his forgotten football rattle, Cyrenne starts to see him as a way out.

It is the chemistry between these two that makes or breaks this play as they face the truth of one another’s lives. Unfortunately, even though the characters are clearly drawn and both play well individually, the chemistry is ultimately lacking between this pair of performers.

The set is a riot of pink and white Mary Quant style daisies, with bead curtains and a small kitchenette where Percy is happier doing small domestic tasks rather than facing up to life and the possibilities laid before him.

Percy: Clive Mantle
Cyrenne: Samantha Robson
Ricard: Steve Brownlie

Director: Patrick Sandford
Designer: Juliet Shillingford
Lighting: David W Kidd

2003-03-27 01:41:43