THE DRESSER. To 27 September.
Watford.
THE DRESSER
by Ronald Harwood.
Palace Theatre To 27 September 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat 17, 24 Sept 2.30pm, 20, 27 Sept 3pm.
Audio-described 27 Sept 3pm.
Captioned 25 Sept.
Post-show Discussion 16 Sept.
Runs 2hr 40min One interval.
TICKETS: 01923 225671.
www.watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 12 September.
Production fails to address the reality of its characters.
Dull brown décor suggests a theatrical dressing-room. Music indicates the forties; the sound of bombs confirms war-time. Later, the wall panels revolve to creates a backstage area looking through to the stage where aging actor-manager “Sir” just about gives his King Lear, in one of the touring companies whose time was almost up.
So is Sir, who arrives from hospital barely able to walk. His partner, a somewhat mature Cordelia, wants him to retire. Lovelorn stage-manager Madge doesn’t want him to go on. These women’s love leads them to anger. But Norman, for 16 years Sir’s dresser, coaxes and flatters, calming his nerves with alcohol and acting as a substitute wife.
Playwright Ronald Harwood has crammed a lot about theatre, obsession and frustration into a play about an actor-manager who is several rungs below the dramatist’s own “Sir”, the late Donald Wolfit.
The men here are out for what they can get. One’s resentful Sir won’t read his script; another wheedles for promotion to bigger roles. Norman eagerly seeks assurance about his ‘performance’ of an air-raid announcement as the actors wait to go on stage. Having sought Sir’s approval so long, adoration turns sour with lack of recognition.
Sir himself, who believes theatre is his life, really craves social acceptance, making up for the lack of a knighthood with the titles by which his employees refer to him and "Her Ladyship".
The externals are fine in Watford’s revival. Unfortunately the performances are nothing but externals. Graham Turner spends the evening twitchingly reminding us how camp Norman is in a series of mannerisms so separate from anything like character they could be put in a cage and left to disport themselves. Sarah Berger plays each moment in accordance with Her Ladyship’s dialogue, but there’s little sense of any character continuum.
Such things are usually the sign of actors seeking their own salvation in the face of unhelpful direction. Even Clive Francis acts by moments, never quite adding up to a commanding Sir. Di Trevis’s production is an essay in character hostilities that fails to reveal anything much about the characters concerned.
Geoffrey Thornton: Robin Hooper.
Mr Oxenby: Christopher Kelham.
Her Ladyship: Sarah Berger.
Norman: Graham Turner.
Madge: Penelope Beaumont.
Sir: Clive Francis.
Irene: Sasha Higgins.
Director: Di Trevis.
Designer: Ashley Martin-Davis.
Lighting: Ben Ormerod.
Sound: Dominic Muldowney.
Movement: Shona Morris.
2008-09-14 01:22:17