THE PRIORY To 16 January.
London.
THE PRIORY
by Michael Wynne.
Royal Court Theatre (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) Sloane Square SW1W 8AS To 16 January 2010.
Mon-Sat 7.30 Mat Wed (from Dec 16) & Sat 3pm.
Audio-described 12 Dec 3pm.
Captioned 10 Dec.
Post-show talk 8 Dec.
Runs 2hrs 15 mins with 15 min interval
TICKETS 020 7565 -5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.co.uk
Review: Carole Woddis 25 November.
Production puts a damper on events.
‘Tis the season to be merry so why not arrange an alternative New Year, a little retreat in the country away from the usual drunken blow-outs with just a small group of close friends?
That’s the posit on which Michael Wynne’s The Priory sits and the kind of situation that has served Alan Ayckbourn so well over the years. Jessica Hynes who plays Wynne’s central character, Kate, knows this only too well. The last time she was seen on the London stage was as Annie, the youngest daughter in last year’s Old Vic revival of Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests.
Wynne’s Kate, in true Ayckbourn fashion, is a modest, slightly tortured character around whom the rest of the action revolves. It was Kate’s idea, with her ex,-boyfriend to arrange this holiday hideaway in an old priory once inhabited by monks, a place to pass a few days of quiet, peaceful contemplation and wind-down, ready for the coming year.
Perfect comic territory. Pick the festive season, throw in a disparate collection of egos and personalities, light the blue touch paper, stand back and watch them tear each other to pieces.
And so it goes here. Unexpected guests turn up; a nervy beautician from Harvey Nicks; Rebecca, high flying BBC TV producer wife of Carl with whom Kate is now carrying on a secret liaison; and the internet date of Kate’s gay architect friend, Daniel.
As a comedy of manners of today’s metropolitan 30-somethings, it’s pleasant and diverting enough. Wynne has a nice ear for class differentiation (Charlotte Riley’s Laura is so hopelessly out of her depth) and the druggy, draggy hedonism of young ABC1 professionals.
Like Ayckbourn, Wynne understands, too, the lethal insecurities bubbling just beneath the surface and invests the ending with a serious antidote. Life can be so much more than striving after fame and fortune.
Jeremy Herrin, a rising directorial star, fails however on this occasion to make the most out of Wynne’s characters. The Priory may be a place of rehabilitation but Herrin with a stellar cast could have made so much more of the contrasts.
Kate: Jessica Hynes.
Daniel: Joseph Millson.
Ben: Alaistair Mackenzie.
Laura: Charlotte Riley.
Carl: Rupert Penry-Jones.
Rebecca: Rachael Stirling.
Adam: Nick Blood.
Director: Jeremy Herrin.
Designer: Robert Innes Hopkins.
Lighting: Neil Austin.
Sound /Music: Nick Powell.
Costume: Robert Innes Hopkins, Iona Kenrick.
Assistant director: Joe Murphy.
2009-11-27 18:18:16