THE ENTERTAINER Tio 5 December.
Manchester.
THE ENTERTAINER
by John Osborne.
Royal Exchange Theatre To 5 December 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Wed & Sat 2.30pm.
Audio-described 28 Nov 2.30pm (+Touch Tour).
BSL Signed 1 Dec.
Post-show discussion 26 Nov.
TICKETS: 0161 833 9833.
www.royalexchange.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 November.
An Entertainer that briskly entertains.
It’s bold of the Exchange to take on the 1957 play where John Osborne swapped the angry young man of Look Back in Anger for the seriously tetchy middle-age of music-hall comic Archie Rice And the angry old age of his retired dad Billy, once a notable performer, who sits around spouting bigotry that seems a preparation for the next decade’s Alf Garnett.
But it’s likely Osborne, apparent voice of the new, approved of Billy, with his dislike of Polish neighbours (noisy, but so are the Rices once they start). And the Poles aren’t neighbours, but fellow-tenants in the house where the ever-indigent Archie lodges with his second wife Phoebe.
Powered by the Berliner Ensemble’s Brecht repertoire in 1956 London, Osborne intercuts the home scenes with several glimpses of Archie’s tatty act, built around naked nudes, double entendres and sham patriotic songs, capturing Britain’s shabbily opportunistic society at the time of its final imperial fling at Suez, which revealed it to be powerless as Archie trying to finance a new show.
Director Greg Hersov acknowledges the music-hall scenes require anything but in-the-round staging. David Schofield’s Archie has to do some fairly constant gyrating during his stage act, but hoofs it niftily, his painted-on laughter fuelling an underlying menace suggesting him as an English Jack Nicholson.
Laurie Dennett’s bare stage trundles the Rice home on, then off at the end; home-life’s as temporary as theatre itself. By removing Archie’s opening scene, Hersov homes in on old Billy (a splendid David Ryall, all the character’s discontent emerging from a lifetime’s survival).
The mood’s carried into his first conversation, with Archie’s visiting daughter Jean, whom Laura Rees plays as soured with life rather than a young idealist; it fits her final despondent speeches well. Roberta Taylor gives authentic working-class London tones and rhythms to gin-downing Phoebe (bottles of gin and beer are the room’s only decorations).
There are losses, with two minor characters reduced to voiceovers - and the nude Brittania flings a final, extra-Osborne insult at Archie in a production which amply captures the play’s mood and era through its fresh approach.
Billy Rice: David Ryall.
Jean Rice: Laura Rees.
Archie Rice: David Schofield.
Phoebe Rice: Roberta Taylor.
Frank Rice/Voice of Graham: Oliver Gomm.
Brittania: Harriet Barrow.
Voice of Brother Bill: Peter Guinness.
Director: Greg Hersov.
Designer: Laurie Dennett.
Lighting: Robert Bryan.
Sound: Steve Brown.
Composer: Akintayo Akinbode.
Movement: Stuart Hopps.
Assistant director: Sam Pritchard.
2009-11-23 12:39:07