THE ODD COUPLE. To 15 January.

Liverpool

THE ODD COUPLE
by Neil Simon

Liverpool Playhouse To 15 January 2005
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 23,24,30,31 Dec 6,8,15 Jan
No performance 24 (eve)25-28, 31 Dec 1, 3 Jan
Audio-described 14 Jan
BSL Signed 13 Jan
Runs 2hr 15min One interval

TICKETS: 0151 709 4776
www.everymanplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 December

A fine end to a magnificent year at the Playhouse.They're quite an odd couple themselves, Liverpool's Edwardian Playhouse and the Everyman, the cool place with the hot shows. Now under one management, with the Everyman producing its usual rock panto, the Playhouse has gone for an alternative or, at least, different audience by producing a modern classic comedy. It's no easy choice; Neil Simon's precise dialogue is more demanding than the usual panto script.

After the excellent 2003 Library Theatre Odd Couple in Manchester, Matthew Lloyd's different yet equally outstanding revival shows British regional theatre has the measure of New York wisecracking. Simon never goes beneath the surface; his characters never surprise us, or reveal their interiors. Even grief and anger come gift-wrapped. But he has an unerring skill for catching the sense of a situation and the responses his characters make to it.

This cast find every nuance of the script. They're built around two superb, and superbly contrasted, central performances. George Costigan's Oscar evidently didn't know how happy he was in his untidy apartment photos at all angles, estranged child's drawings stuck up like irregular teeth on one wall until David Fielder's Felix moves in and imposes order. Both like the two English (here Merseyside, rather obtrusively) women neighbours have experienced marital problems; only the background friends of Oscar have any sort of regular family life.

Costigan's splenetic outrage bounces off Fielder's reasonableness, a quiet manner backed up by a hushed-voice iron determination to put things in order. It's his beseeching face and supplicating tone that win the women's sympathy. Emma Gregory's ticking-off of Oscar over his supposed mistreatment of his friend is masterly and matronly in one a slight smile and condescending tone can speak volumes.

But every cast member contributes to the comic energy in Lloyd's immaculate production, as does Sue Plummer's set with its doors and corridor leading offstage all suggesting how spacious the 8-room flat is, while Oscar still finds his home less of a castle than a prison when Felix comes to stay. The whole show is a fine, often hilarious end a fine end to a strong year at the re-born Playhouse.

Vinnie: Neil Caple
Oscar: George Costigan
Murray: Tim Faraday
Felix: David Fielder
Gwendoline: Emma Gregory
Speed: Kieron Jecchinis
Cecily: Rosanna Lavelle
Roy: Michael Roberts

Director: Matthew Lloyd
Designer: Sue Plummer
Lighting: Paul Pyant
Sound: John Leonard
Dialect coach: Terry Besson

2004-12-24 08:58:43