THE SKIN GAME. To 28 April.

Richmond

THE SKIN GAME
by John Galsworthy

Orange Tree Theatre To 28 April 2007
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 4pm &2, 12 April 2.30pm (+ post-show discussion)
Audio-described 31 March 4pm
Post-show discussion 20 April
Runs 2hr 20min One interval

TICKETS: 020 8940 3633
www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 March

Another triumphant Orange Tree revival of a play that theatre forgot.
Modern life’s a cut-throat competitive business, a bare-knuckled “skin game” in John Galsworthy’s 1920 drama, revived with vigour and detailed attention by Sam Walters. Rapacious magnate Hornblower (his name redolent of brazen self-promotion) promises the earth until he’s signed the contract for it, then breaks his word, helping no-one but himself.

Contrasting this aggressive new money are the Hillcrists (so like ‘hill crest’, linking them to the landscape). This ‘old money’ squirearchy, has far less disposable income than Hornblower. The confident tradition which has inherited the earth through generations is understood in all its complacency and smugness by the industrial Viking who has to push his way through making money and buying land for himself.

But if Galsworthy included the recent War in his sights, and the failure for people with power to behave with social responsibility after the trench years, he’s clear-sighted. Hornblower knows he’s the employment-creating future, that meadows must give way to chimneys. Hillcrest’s wife is willing to use the vulnerability of Hornblower’s daughter-in-law ruthlessly against him. And the gentry always have the likes of the agent Dawker to get his hands dirty on their behalf.

Walters weighs every ounce of Galsworthy’s moral perception in his production, while building the plot tension: the fine-tuned auction is breath-stoppingly tense in its flurries and silences. Geoffrey Beevers’ squire, affably benign, is ineffectual with anyone not subscribing to his leisured gentlemanly code, while Lynn Farleigh wraps his wife’s snobbish distaste for Hornblower in a tight-reined moral disgust.

She’ll stoop to any trick, exploiting the vulnerability of Hornblower’s daughter-in-law, whom Charity Reindorp gives a pleading genuine quality, making her about the most sympathetic of any character.

Two performances stand out even in this strong company. Clive Francis is purposefully energetic as Hornblower, adopting bluff cordiality or seething enmity to have his way, showing an attractive energy as well as ruthlessness. And Miriam Hughes makes Hillcrist’s daughter bright-mannered and lively in contrast to her father and without her mother’s social baggage. Yet, though fond of Rolf Hornblower, she knows which side she’s on. Hughes' performance is a miracle of energy and ease.

Squire Hillcrist: Geoffrey Beevers
Amy Hillcrist: Lynn Farleigh
Jill Hillcrist: Miriam Hughes
Fellows/Auctioneer: Graham Seed
Dawker: Richard Hollis
Mr Jackman/1st Stranger: Christopher Terry
Mrs Jackman: Julie Teal
Mr Hornblower: Clive Francis
Charles Hornblower: Edward Bennett
Rolf Hornblower: Dudley Hinton
Chloe Hornblower: Charity Reindorp
Anna: Daisy Ashford
:2nd Stranger: Dan Staniforth

Director: Sam Walters
Designer: Tim Meacock
Lighting: Stuart Burgess
Assistant director: Henry Bell

2007-04-03 12:02:54