UP THE DUFF To 28 November.
York.
UP THE DUFF
by Lisa Evans.
Theatre Royal To 29 November 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm.
Audio-described 27, 28 Nov.
Post-show discussion 25 Nov.
Runs 2hr 20min One interval.
TICKETS: 01904 623568.
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 14 November.
York gives birth to enjoyable new comedy.
Both as a phrase and a play, Up the Duff bluntly describes the end of the line for romance: here, a dilapidated NHS ante-natal class, forum for the pains and discomfort of pregnancy.
Love and sexual exaltation are distant from the four mothers here – from 40-ish Roshin with her jagged forest of IVF injection-marks to teenage Jess, addressing the midwife like a schoolteacher and stuffed with old wives’ tales by her aunt Janice. Between them, Kizzy’s self-makeover can’t hide her fears she’ll repeat her own mother’s maternal failings while Teresa can barely afford time off from hairdressing to give birth.
Barging blithely into their lives from time to time is Graham, husband of midwife Sheila, and a DIY enthusiast whose increased self-mutilations at each reappearance both set-off the women’s physical states and suggest the sitcom style of Lisa Evans’ play. Spread over several episodes, this week’s injury would doubtless seem funnier than the contrivance they become in a single span.
But Evans scores repeatedly in individual moments, if less so over longer-term developments. With bumping and grinding long replaced by bending and stretching, the next generation presses on maternal bladders, causing recognition-laughter as Kizzy crawls to the sole toilet, while Teresa makes emergency use of a bucket, then attempts to shift it inconspicuously under her skirt when interrupted.
They think they’ve got problems? Lying ahead are the professional and maternal anxieties that finally get to Sheila. While her grown-up son travels abroad, ’phoning home only for funds, a disciplinary enquiry hangs over her, rocking the women’s confidence – though this plot-strand emerges too late to take a convincing place in the action.
But there’s still plenty to enjoy. Evans is never glib and leaves the impression she could explore her characters further than the format permits. Damian Cruden’s well-orchestrated production is strongly acted throughout and brings an enjoyable, accessible new piece to the stage, its downbeat material contrasted by the repertoire of “baby” standards, sung on stage or more ethereally behind suddenly transparent walls, among the stars. A piece ripe for revival in rep with John Burrows’ It’s A Girl maybe?
Sheila: Sarah Parks.
Graham: Colin Tarrant.
Roshin: Shelley Atkinson.
Teresa: Kali Peacock.
Jess: Lucy Beaumont.
Kizzy: Pippa Duffy.
Director: Damian Cruden.
Designer: Helen Fownes-Davies.
Lighting: Richard G Jones.
Musical Director: Christopher Madin.
Voice coach: Susan Stern.
Assistant director: Charlotte Bennett.
Assistant designer: Kay Richards.
2009-11-24 13:03:44