THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE. To 21 December.
London.
THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE
by William Saroyan.
Finborough Theatre The Finborough 118 Finborough Road SW10 9ED To 21 December 2008.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & Sun 3pm*.
Runs 2hr 45min One interval.
TICKETS: 0844 847 1652.
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk (24hr) No booking fee.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 30 November.
Ambitious drama of lives adrift in sympathetic revival.
A ‘Comedy’ they call it. Well, OK, if that includes reflections on the sadness of life. There’s no barrel of laughs in William Saroyan’s portrait of the regulars, occasionals and officials who drift in and out of Nick’s Pacific Street place, which caters for eating, drinking and entertainment in 1939 San Francisco. It’s no high class joint, as a slumming Society couple discover - she to her delight, he in fear – amid the human flotsam trying to piece their lives together, or stop them falling apart.
Some hang around and remain enigmatic, others are full of self-expression, desperation and surges of glee. Beating the pinball machine sends one into ecstasies, whether or not he’s a net gainer. There’s love of course, and desire, the struggle to express human sympathy between bruised people (it’s that which takes the action briefly beyond Nick’s).
Such sympathy’s frequent in American social drama of the time, in a country where the optimism of immigration has spread into the alienation of a vast and varied individualism. The sourest note comes from the law, making the attack on a sadistic detective by an old-timer who’s turning himself into a legend in his own lifetime seem well-deserved.
The comedy’s in the fact of survival, and in human resilience. Alongside the repeated emergence of optimism, in lovers, or in would-be entertainers seeking work from the laconically generous Nick. Theser include a comedian who arrives a half-century too early for alternative comedy and post-modern mime.
It’s a vast array of characters, and if anyone not knowing the cast or the play has difficulty remembering most of who’s who after a day or two – well, that reflects the way of this casual, yet important-seeming life.
Icarus Theatre Collective are fortunate the whole lot aren’t on stage simultaneously – the curtain-call has to be in several layers at the tiny Finborough. Could some of the characters have benefited form more sophisticated performances? Yes. But, do the actors and Max Lewendel’s production catch the generous, mournfully hopeful spirit of Saroyan’s scenes from this life? They most certainly do in this brave and striking enterprise.
*Such a huge cast runs the risk of sickness striking, so most performers have alternative roles. Performances of this casting take place at 3pm on Thursdays 11 & 18 December at 3pm. Tickets £5 on the door only.
Joe: Alistair Cumming.
Tom: Matthew Rowland Roberts.
Kitty Duval: Maeve Malley-Ryan.
Nick: Brett Findlay.
Arab: Payman Jaberi.
Kit Carson: Robin Dunn.
McCarthy: Jack Baldwin.
Krupp: John Eastman.
Harry: Omar Ibrahim.
Wesley: Harry Waller.
Dudley: Giles Roberts.
Elsie: Natalie Britton.
Lorene/Ma: Anne Bird.
Mar L: Emma Vane.
Willie: Kevin Millington.
Blick: Gwilym Lloyd.
Society Gentleman: Alex Dee.
Society Lady: Annie Julian.
Killer: Larissa Archer.
Her Sidekick: Nicola Sangster.
Sailor: David Palliser.
Cop/Sam: Andy Root.
Newsboy: Anthony Kinahan.
Another Cop: HannahScott.
Anna: Tanya Cooke.
Director: Max Lewendel.
Designer: Christopher Hone.
Lighting: Matthew Newbury.
Sound: Joseph Thorpse.
Costume: Natasha Ward.
Assistant directors: Beth Pitts, Elizabeth Elstub.
Assistant lighting: Laurence Lindsay.
2008-12-07 20:52:01