THIS IS WHERE WE CAME IN by Alan Ayckbourn. Stephen Joseph Theatre to 5 January.
Scarborough
THIS IS WHERE WE CAME IN
by Alan Ayckbourn
Stephen Joseph Theatre To 5 January 2002
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS 01723 370541
Review Timothy Ramsden 19 December
At once nail-biting adventure and rib-tickling comedy, this play is joy from end to end and back to its beginning.If pantomime is the betrayal of story (and it is, oh yes, it is) then Alan Ayckbourn's drama is its enrichment. It's stuffed with stories, with histories and with stories within stories. This splendidly-cast revival is a rich delight for all ages, though the very young are likely to find it a hard action to follow.
We're met by the simplest of theatrical states – an empty square with just a notice saying stories are to be told. Young Fred waits to hear a story, till he's met by Nell, the girl – or woman – or character – of his dreams. Behind her comes a troupe of story characters. Not actors; characters.
For just as history can be seen as a few lording it over the many, and ensuring their version of events gets taught in schools, so it seems a few characters wrested power from their fellows, setting up a closed shop as story-tellers and forcing the others to act out their will. Like any old regime – and this trio is wizened, wrinkled, physically and mentally decrepit and clinging on to power they cannot properly exercise – they once faced rebellion from a Spartacus-like character named Flavius. It's just possible Fred might be him.
But no-one remembers. The storytellers did for Flavius last time through a twist in events and should they recognise him again, he'll be sent spinning off into narrative oblivion once more.
While this will they/won't they tension is developing three comic stories are told. At least, they become comical as the story-tellers live down to their names, Erraticus offering a gender-bent 'Gretel and Hansel' with a house of snakes instead of cakes, while Oblivious' 'Frog Prince' keeps being halted by his memory lapses.
But Repetitius is the main threat, and the second part develops into a cosmic storyland battle of wills between the two sides (there are two sides to every story). Ayckbourn's script is strong enough to be enjoyed either as a serious tale with comic incidents (lots of visual comedy's mixed into his spot-on production) or as an overall comical conceit exploiting an array of cunning theatricality. Either way it's a treat.
Fred: Glyn Williams
Nell: Alison Pargeter
Bethany: Saskia Butler
Talitha: Claire Currie
Jenkin: Justin Brett
Albert: Paul Kemp
Great-Aunt Repetitius: Antonia Pemberton
Uncle Erraticus: Peter Laird
Uncle Oblivious: Geoffrey Whitehead
Director: Alan Ayckbourn
Costume: Christine Wall
Designer: Pip Leckenby
Lighting: Kath Geraghty
Composer: John Pattison
Choreographer: Sheila Carter
2001-12-30 23:28:02