THE DEEP BLUE SEA. To 18 November.
Exeter
THE DEEP BLUE SEA
by Terence Rattigan
Northcott Theatre To 18 November 2006
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 18 Nov 2.30pm
Audio-described/Post-show discussion 16 Nov
Runs 2hr 30min Two intervals
TICKETS: 01392 493493
www.northcott-theatre.co.uk
Review Hazel Brown 2 November 2006
Revival of this 50’s play works, with a fine central performance.
Caroline Faber gives a brilliantly modulated performance as the central character, Hester Collyer, in this excellent revival of Terence Rattigan’s hit from the 50’s. And Ben Crocker has brought together a team who recreate the atmosphere, mores, look and sound of that era with precision and care (Gary Austin’s work as voice coach must have been inspirational).
Hester Collyer has left her husband, Sir William, a high court judge, and set up home in a grotty flat with dashing former bomber pilot, Freddie Page. As this relationship unravels, so does Hester. Caroline Faber plays the part without hysteria, but with such painfully reined-in passion that outbursts of despair and feeling, when they come, are shocking and heartrending.
The play starts with her botched attempt at suicide in front of the gas fire, where she is found by her warm-hearted cockney landlady and the nice young couple from upstairs. Mr Miller, a defrocked doctor, now a bookie’s runner, who lives in the house, tends her. Nicholas Gecks, both in stature and in his performance as Hester’s husband, is properly ramrod stiff, but there are nice hints of tenderness born of long association between the two of them.
On first meeting Freddie, you suspect he might be a complete bounder, but in fact he is a young man who lived life fully and on the edge during the war, but who has found it impossible to settle into mundane civilian life afterwards. Giles Fagan’s performance reveals the self-knowledge that lingers beneath the surface and which brings about the denouement. Of the other characters, Simon Stanhope, as Freddie’s former RAF chum and now golfing/drinking partner, demonstrates a depth of feeling by his facial expressions beyond his bluff, hail-fellow-well-met dialogue.
Sara Perks’ set and costume designs are perfect (I could kill for Hester’s green silk moiré shirt-waister). Rattigan puts relationships under a fierce spotlight and, despite being stuck in the buttoned-up 50’s, finally manages to suggest liberation will come for women when they, like Hester, achieve financial and emotional independence from men.
Philip Welch: Oliver J Hembrough
Mrs Elton: Maggie McCarthy
Ann Welch: Natalie Burt
Hester Collyer: Caroline Faber
Mr Miller: Geoffrey Towers
Sir William Collyer: Nicholas Gecks
Freddie Page: Giles Fagan
Jackie Jackson: Simon Stanhope
Director: Ben Crocker
Designer: Sara Perks
Lighting: Hugh Vanstone
Voice Coach: Gary Austin
2006-11-15 10:08:05