ROOTS. To 1 March.
Manchester.
ROOTS
by Arnold Wesker.
Royal Exchange Theatre To 1 March 2008.
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Sat 8pm Mat Wed 2.30pm & Sat 4pm.
Audio-described 9 Feb 4pm.
BSL Signed 23 Feb 4pm.
Post-show discussion 28 Feb.
Runs 2hr 40min One interval.
TICKETS: 0161 833 9833.
www.royalexchange.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 February.
Roots insecurely planted.
It may be central to Arnold Wesker’s late-1950s ‘Trilogy’, but Roots is set at the periphery of the Trilogy’s action, in rural Norfolk as opposed to London, and leaves the Jewish-Socialist Kahns to be represented by the unseen Ronnie. The programme’s crediting of Ronnie is a sign of this production’s eccentricity; Roots hardly needs a programmatic plot-teaser.
The programme also indicates the play’s time-span, but not that the three acts occur in different rooms, in two cottages. Fortunately, Liz Ascroft’s settings make that apparent, as they do the cheap old furniture that identifies the inter-related Beales and Bryant families. These are linked also by the abdominal illnesses affecting the men in a hard agricultural life, where employers are paternalistic in manner yet ruthless in decisions. Owen Oakeshott and David Beames identify mixed rural stubbornness, male pride and employee subservience.
Director Jo Combes emphasises the relentless harshness of working life amid Nature, showing also its sullenness, and the effort everyone nevertheless makes to greet Beatie’s London boyfriend with a wealth of inappropriate trifle and buns.
There’s theatrical irony when Beatie laboriously pours heated water from an oven into a tin bath (few mod cons in fifties Norfolk), then takes her bath. Invigorated and cheery, Beatie’s guarded by her mother, demurely concealing her daughter behind a screen - though she’s visible to most of the audience in this theatre-in-the-round.
Beatie’s happiness contains cruelty. Parrotting Ronnie, she denounces her family’s cultural ignorance, humiliating her mother by setting her up as a judge with table-top insignia. Only Wesker’s final move gives Beatie self-awareness. It’s one Claire Brown captures thrillingly after a performance where physical energy is subverted by a voice sounding less country-girl-meets-working-class-socialist than Norfolk-lass-tries-sounding-posh-in-job-as-Belgravia-parlourmaid.
As Beatie’s mum Denise Black has several devastating moments, including her change from opinionated confidence to speechless consternation when Beatie sets her up in judgment, but many others which are sketchily comic, while the usually scrupulous John Cording turns neighbour Stan Mann into a mere dirty old drunk. Caroline Devlin is fine as no-nonsense young wife Jenny.
Together, it all suggests a production only fitfully at home with the play.
Jenny Beales: Caroline Devlin.
Jimmy Beales: Owen Oakeshott.
Beatie Bryant: Claire Brown.
Stan Mann: John Cording.
Mrs Bryant: Denise Black.
Mr Bryant: David Beames.
Mr Healey/Frank Bryant: Patrick Connolly.
Pearl Bryant: Lorna Lewis.
Director: Jo Combes.
Designer: Liz Ascroft.
Lighting: David Holmes.
Sound: Gerry Marsden.
Dialects: Jacquie Crago.
Assistant director: Rania Jumaily.
Sponsor: Bruntwood.
2008-02-10 00:54:50