THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING. To 15 June.

Chichester

THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING
by Christopher Fry

Minerva Theatre To 15 June 2002
Mon-Sat 7.45 Mat Wed & Sat 2.45pm
Audio described 6 June, 12 June mat
Runs 2hr 40min One interval

TICKETS 01243 781312
Review Timothy Ramsden 29 May

Perceptive direction and well-judged performances bring Fry back to the boil.Leading young classical actor Samuel West shows he could do nicely in a day job as director, revealing a tender yet trenchant play beneath Fry's flowery imagery. What has often appeared whimsical cod-medievalism (the 1948 play's set in '1400, either more or less exactly') emerges as an attempt to grapple with human values in a war-strewn age of mass destruction.

There's a grey prudence to Peter Rice's clean, ordered room, home of market-town Mayor Hebble Tyson. Benjamin Whitrow brings comically bumbling bureaucracy to Tyson's every routine act and slow thought. Into this ordered world burst the self-loathing, death-seeking Thomas Mendip and the wildly beautiful supposed witch Jennet Jourdemayne.

Since Chichester revived the play decades ago, stylisation has flowed back through British theatre, making Fry's elegance more approachable. The less severe theatrical climate even accommodates an ending where the young lovers walk hand-in-hand towards the morning sun.

Though not without the clarity and humanity West and his cast bring to the fantasy. Alan Cox gives Mendip a sardonic fury linking him to Osborne's Jimmy Porter, Fry's nemesis and doorkeeper to the new drama.

Once in her red evening-gown (portent of flames to come), Nancy Carroll is seduced into over-winsome vocal lyricism and facial idealisation as the alchemist's daughter placing her feet of faith firmly on solid reality. In her ragged day-clothes, she brings life and energy to the scene. This pair make Fry's point, that life consists of contradiction, and contrasts held in tension.

There's self-knowing humour in Roger Booth's cheery, ruddy-faced instrument of justice, while Patrick Godfrey's household eccentric, a self-effacing viol player ('The Chaplain's tuning his G string to the bells' has an Ortonesque absurdity), and Alison Fiske's cut-glass household matriarch – mid-20th century social poise and understated irony to the fore - excel among a strong supporting cast. As does Leader Hawkins' rag-and-bone merchant, alleged victim of Thomas and Jennet, who turns up to put all to right.

Two young actors also excel, Ben Silverstone as the apologetic clerk and Georgina Sutcliffe, an independent-minded prize bride. Good to see Chichester, home to theatrical stars, developing such fine young performers.

Richard: Ben Silverstone
Thomas Mendip: Alan Cox
Alizon Eliot: Georgina Sutcliffe
Nicholas Devize: James Thorne
Margaret Devize: Alison Fiske
Humphrey Devize: Oliver Senton
Hebble Tyson: Benjamin Whitrow
Jennet Jourdemayne: Nancy Carroll
The Chaplain: Patrick Godfrey
Edward Tappercoom: Roger booth
Matthew Skipps: Leader Hawkins

Director: Samuel West
Designer: Peter Rice
Lighting: Mark Jonathan
Sound: Kay Basson
Fight director: Terry King

2002-05-30 09:59:36