The Daughter-in-Law. To 10th May.
Basingstoke
THE DAUGHTER-In-LAW
by D.H. Lawrence
Haymarket Theatre To 10 May 2003
Mon-Sat7.45 pm; Mat 1,10 May 2.00 pm
Audio described 10 May 7.45p.m.
BSL Signed 8 May
Runs 2hr 40min One Interval
Tickets 01256 465566
www.haymarket.org.uk
Review Mark Courtice: 30th April 2003
The dialect may need a glossary, but the emotions are clear as a bell.
It is amazing that The Daughter-in-Law, written in 1912, had to wait until 1967 to be nominated as best new play after its first production. It is a good play and at Basingstoke it is given a good production.
Mrs Gascoigne's son Luther has married Minnie, but must deal with the fact that he is also the father of the baby due to another girl in the town. His mother has been the centre of his life; this moment in his young marriage is a test as to whether she is going to go on ruining him as a man.
Here we have Lawrence's strong women (Luther is stuck between two of them) but we also have a picture of a personal struggle set in the middle of social and political upheaval (the miners are on strike), and we have real characters who we like and care for.
The company here create a real world with a splendid dialect (there is a glossary in the programme for we Southerners), the sets are detailed and accurate (Mrs Gascoine's wall has a picture of Queen Victoria who died ten years before the play is set).
The acting, particularly from Peter Hamilton Dyer who seems to be able to make Luther smaller and meaner as he fails to meet the challenges of the situation, is strong and satisfying. Viviene Rowden is splendid as Minnie, full of energy and dignity. Lawrence labours the point that her struggle is the same as those of the men down the mines, but it's unnecessary when she is played with such promise and vigour. Craige Els made us interested in the languid Joe, who is as much emotionally crippled by his mother as his more obvious brother.
The production is well put together; the actors feel like an ensemble, creating the feel of a community at work. Sound, lighting and video images all come together effectively; strange therefore that there are odd moments at the end of each act, where director Alasdair Ramsey seems to lose touch with the timing - each act rather peters out. Perhaps an old fashioned curtain is really needed here.
Mrs Gascoigne: Frances Cuka
Luther Gascoigne: Peter Hamilton Dyer
Joe Gascoigne: Graige Els
Minnie Gascoigne: Vivienne Rowdon
Mrs Purdy: Kate Doherty
2003-05-08 13:36:58