Stephen Joseph Shorts I. To 6 September.
Scarborough/Filey
STEPHEN JOSEPH Shorts – II
The Kaiser and I by Stuart Fortey
6,9,14,22,27,30 August, 3 September at 1.10pm
17 August 10.30pm
Runs 1hr No interval
River's Up by Alex Jones
7,15,20,23,28 August, 4,6 September 1.10pm
10,31 August 10.30pm
Runs 55min No interval
Both plays 7.30pm at The Evron Centre, Filey
8,15,22,29 August, 5 September
TICKETS 01723 370541 (Scarborough)
01723 518000 (Filey)
Two contrasting bittersweet plays, one historical realism, the other modern parable, fill Scarborough lunchtimes.A second dollop of lunchtime shows – one turning the Stephen Joseph's restaurant into a theatre in the round – includes these two contrasting plays. Both can be seen together during their run on Thursday evenings in Filey.
On film, The Kaiser and I would most likely be a big-budget costume weepie. In 1914, McCarthy's ramrod-backed German officer (Gerhard's mind is as perpendicular and unbending) comes to John's English-born dancing-teacher to brush up his footwork before being presented to the Kaiser at the annual Imperial Ball.
The years pass with no more than a table and gramophone to support the acting – which is well up to managing for itself. War comes and goes – as, it seems, does the Kaiser, paying wartime visits to Bella. Plotting here's a little ludicrous, especially when Bella imagines she's got hold of plans for German military machinery, only to discover its a design for the new Imperial teapot.
By this time, it's the characters that are absorbing our interest, blunting critical faculties. Neither is young – this is an elusive autumnal romance. Gerhard's sense of failure, his hopes for Bella with her unsympathetic English husband, and the dashing of those hopes through his war-work form the spine of a play all the better for lack of production overkill.
Jones too seems to start with an unhappy marriage, but as the river Severn rises beyond even the realities of recent years, a kind of Noah parable bubbles to the play's surface. The 'Red-faced townies' on syndicate-owned riverboats and the 'drug-crazed degenerates' of Birmingham yobs alike are washed away by the waves, while Sally and Tom come to a new understanding as they seek escape in their dinghy.
Jones manages the ecological message well, and metamorphoses from realism to parable easily. The early comedy is helped by sudden décor changes in Pip Leckenby's set, as the couple move to bed then take, of necessity, to the waters. John and McCarthy handle the relationships and transitions of tone convincingly, up to the final re-flickerings of married strife and the happy unity as the pair resign themselves to the coming end.
Bella/Sally: Caroline John
Gerhard/Tom: Barry McCarthy
Director: Laurie Sansom
Designer: Pip Leckenby
Sound: Julie Davis
Dance coach: Patricia Mennell
Costume: Christine Wall
2002-08-07 16:50:14