SUMMER LIGHTNING. To 12 June.

Northampton

SUMMER LIGHTNING
by Giles Havergal from the novel by P G Wodehouse

Royal Theatre To 12 June 2004
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat 29 May, 3 & 5 June 2.30pm
BSL Signed 1 June
Runs 2hr 25min One interval

TICKETS: 01604 624811
www.royalandderngate.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28 May 2004

Bereaved tomatoes and good eggs mix in a crisp summer salad.This delicious comic novel is adapted by one of Britain's finest theatre directors. On present evidence, its director is in the same league, his tenure in Northampton set fair to be a golden age. It's a glorious mix of stylised action and language, farcical highpoints balanced by a beautifully lyrical conclusion.

Wodehouse's language gloriously portrays 2-D genre-type characters in a riot of metaphor and formality, with a verbal freshness which adaptation and production deliciously exploit. Metaphors are expostulated with full-throated vigour, often accompanied by exaggerated facial expressions. Comic artificiality is exploited when descriptions of a character's movement or expression are calmly narrated, followed by forceful physicalisation. By the time imperturbable butler Beach is surprised into a body-length seismic shift, the joke's familiar enough for James Woolley to leave an anticipatory second before converting narration into action.

Matthew Wright's room outline is shaded azure and verdant for the Shropshire estate where Lord Emsworth presides over his darling prize pig (Emsworth sneaks gleefully from the tea-table with a porcine doggy-bag). Increasingly unlikely objects of exaggerated height descend into view during scene-changes. Down each side of the stage are doors, ready for the farcical hilarity of Rupert Goold's expertly choreographed production.

Amid Wodehouse's intricate plot come highpoints of comic business a London restaurant scene where Hugo and Sue engage in nifty twenties-style foot-shifting, backed by a busy spiral of be-trayed waiters. Or the split-screen effect as Tom Edden's slick private dick hides in a cupboard while, across the stage, an angry Ronnie seeks to extricate him by pulling on his extruding tie.

Edden's is, aptly, the most cartoon-like characterisation. At the other end is Tim Hardy's Galahad, who lives up to his name in a moving renunciation. This rich-voiced actor brings a light touch, humanising the role.

The cast is uniformly excellent, including Giles Taylor's silly-ass Hugo, Miranda Colchester and Amy Brown as socially separated but equally determined sweet young things, with Richard Kane's Emsworth an outstanding whiskery old buffer. The detail and inventiveness of Goold's production flows continuously into the surprisingly lyrical conclusion, importing the touches of sweet harmony' lines from The Merchant of Venice. Magical.

Beach: James Woolley
Hugo Carmody: Giles Taylor
Millicent Threepwood: Miranda Colchester
Lord Emsworth: Richard Kane
Lady Constance Keeble: Marty Cruikshank
Galahad Threepwood: Tim Hardy
Sue Brown: Amy Brown
Ronnie Fish: William Mannering
Pilbeam: Tom Edden

Director: Rupert Goold
Designer: Matthew Wright
Lighting: Paul Dennant
Sound: Liam Matthews
Musical Supervisor: Tim Sutton

2004-05-29 08:10:23