TOMORROW MORNING. To 13 August.
London
TOMORROW MORNING
by Lawrence Mark Whyte
New End Theatre 27 New End To 13 August 2006
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & Sun 3.30pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval
TICKETS: 0870 033 2733
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 July
Marital highs and lows tunefully presented and strongly performed.
Half the characters here are due to be married in the morning; the other half to sign their divorce papers. There again, the two couple may not be so separate as they seem. The similar names ally them, though the actors’ different physical types suggest otherwise. There are hefty hints in the closing minutes as to the situation.
They’re all really nice people, though young John’s predilection for porn and slightly older Jack’s extra-marital affair suggest rocks in the roadway. Not half so much as bride-to-be Kat’s worries about herself; she’s getting fat (hardly); she’s a mental health hazard (at times, aren’t we all?).
This leaves tall, businesslike Catherine as the sane, sensible one, though there’s something in the gap between her smart business-suited formality and the way she crawls over the bed in that underwear which suggests out-of-office desires, however organised and cool she is in her daytime manner.
In fact, the old northern saying “Now so queer as folk,” comes to mind, but this being a musical it opts ultimately for soft-centred romance rather than an exploration of “For better, for Worse” implications when physical or psychological abrasions explode during the marriage life-cycle.
As such it’s neat and recognisable enough to amuse and make its quartet sympathetic. The music is always entertaining, though, despite a couple of character numbers, it sticks to a mainstream stylistic range and is not especially memorable. Still, it’s pleasant enough while it lasts and moves the drama forward, aptly expresses relationships, helping, for example, a quarrel end in literal disharmony.
No doubt about Nick Winston’s inventive, well-paced production, which makes the main domestic space the women’s. When not with them, Jack’s confined to his back-corner flat, while Stephen Ashfield’s John looks on at life through a rear window.
There’s an apt contrast between Ashfield’s naively direct expressions and Alistair Robins experience-battered shamefacedness, flashes of anger and hangdog repentance. The women are as good, Annette McLaughlin slowly showing feelings beyond injured affront and Emma Williams making clear youthful energy and positiveness can be bound up with interior agonies and self-doubt. A fine production all-round.
John: Stephen Ashfield
Catherine: Annette McLaughlin
Kat: Emma Williams
Jack: Alistair Robins
Director: Nick Winston
Designer: Philip Witcomb
Lighting: David Holmes
Musical Director: Matt Brind
2006-07-17 17:11:48