TIME AND THE CONWAYS. Royal Exchange to 19 January.
Manchester
TIME AND THE CONWAYS
by J.B. Priestley
Royal Exchange Theatre To 2002
Runs 2hr 20min Two intervals
TICKETS 0161 833 9833
Review Timothy Ramsden 17 December
Decent performances in a revival distinguished by understanding direction.It's a mark of this play's quality that if its action were played chronologically – acts 1,3,2 in that order – it would lose its point. Structure is vital, both for theatrical surprise and recognition, and thematic reasons. Time is serial, not linear here. All time is eternally present, however our limited glimpses prevent us seeing this.
I regret the loss, through illness, of Patricia Routledge, whose range and power on stage is far greater than TV sitcom may suggest. Yet Gabrielle Drake is a strong presence as the Conway matriarch, foolishly confident in her mature glamour during the outer, 1919, acts, becoming an arthritic, skeletal figure, her bright voice turned querulous and matronly in the central "modern" 1937 act.
Braham Murray's production is well worth seeing, if the acting overall doesn’t shoot it into the level of a classic revival. The Conway kids are cast more suitably for their 1919 than 1937 ages, reflecting a casting problem the play presents. Telling details abound, like the first act's implied precognition of death in the moment's silence before the offstage applause breaks in for a Conway party-piece.
Laurence Mitchell catches the decently unambitious Alan, cautiously dipping his toe in life with furrowed brow and a safety-catch on his smile. Or there's Ian Pepperell's parvenu Ernest, the domestic tyrant-to-be. Last autumn in Leeds Alan Ayckbourn spoke of Priestley's influence on his work. Pepperell shows one possible link in his closed-minded, upward-pushing characterisation, a forebear of Sidney in Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular.
Except Priestley isn't laughing, as Rachel Pickup makes clear in the contrast between Hazel's assured 1919 hauteur as Ernest's elusive object of desire, and the sharp nervy expressions with which the trapped Mrs Beevers of 1937 fails to cover fear of her husband.
Her misery isn't solo, but there's little companionship in misfortune as each family member tries to con their way through the decline their vanity has brought on – the former family friend Joan genteelly papering over the cracks of despair, her husband Robin Conway's confidence descended to drunken aggression.
Only the listeners, Alan and Kay, bring the bright tone of Priestley's innate optimism. Murray's production supports this technically, its set incorporating literal expressions of an Englishman's home as a castle. It is, though, a denuded fortress by 1937. And the sounds of Mrs Conway's offstage song are eerily transformed then decoded again into music either side of the time-shifting intervals.
Mrs Conway: Gabrielle Drake
Alan: Laurence Mitchell
Madge: Jessica Lloyd
Robin: Adam James
Hazel: Rachel Pickup
Kay: Sarah Kirkman
Carol: Naomi Frederick
Joan Helford: Emma Darwall-Smith
Ernest Beevers: Ian Pepperell
Gerald Thornton: Stephen Beresford
Director: Braham Murray
Designer: Johanna Bryant
Lighting: Robert Bryan
Sound: Steve Brown
2002-02-13 02:07:03