WAS HE ANYONE? To 1 December.
London.
WAS HE ANYONE?
by N F Simpson.
Union Theatre 204 Union Street SE1 0LX To 1 December 2007.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm.
Runs 1hr 15min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7261 9876.
www.uniontheatre.org
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 November.
Was it anything? It is.
Was, or is, N F Simpson? From his oblique programme biographies (including for this Oblique House (geddit?) revival) it would be hard to work out about the most English of Absurdists, whose works are suddenly springing onions in London, cfing the Donmar’s double doubling him with Michael Frayn.
This play came a hop, skip and long jump after his first Cresta Run of Absurd drama in the 1950s, with A Resounding Tinkle and One Way Pendulum, putting Simpson in the pre-swinging London swing of things. It’s from 1972, by when Monty Python had popularised further the post-Goon Show zaniness Simpson revelled in and out of (the late ‘Professor’ Stanley Unwin might have had a sympathetic say or two about it eitherwards).
Nevertheless, Simpson assembles what’s either a satire on the aid and charity industries or a comment on human silliness all-round. Mr Whitbrace is drowning in the Mediterranean. His wife, back in England, seeks help. Forms must be filled in, committees assembled. And while Mr’s cries for Help! are comically heard distantly, passengers aboard a nearby SS shut the portholes to give themselves some peace.
How helpful is aid? Added to Mr Whitbrace’s raft is a grand piano; the aid-givers are aware of the need for culture, as of the danger the philistine’ll just use the instrument provided to float away upon. Ahoy there, N F. This is becoming sensible. How many millions are donated blindly – remember the fine ladies sending roses to prettify life for troops in the trenches?
And how much gets spent in the bureaucracy, and expenses, of the Committees for the Doing of Something (That Makes Us Feel) Worthwhile? The play runs over an hour without seeming just a series of comic sketches.
Director Elgiva Field and the Union have exhumed worthily. Performances vary, but Nicola Sanderson admirably suggests hurried concern before acquiring her own aid-status, and the production balances lightness with a serious manner. The drowning man’s never seen; it’s doubtful if, beneath committees, carbon copies and famous dignitaries, those administratively concerned about him think he ever was anyone anyway. Begs, or, anyway, requests, a question.
Flag Seller/Miss Rugg/Trainee: Hannah Boyd.
Sybil/Mrs Clacton/Mrs Treplatchely/Mrs Dubarge: Jan Goodman.
Ship Steward/Junior Civil Servant/Putney/TV Interviewer: Joshua Hemmings.
Mr Williams/Clarence/Mr Burbage/Archbishop/Cabinet Minister: Peter Henderson.
Mr Vernon/Senior Civil Servant/Baverstock/Mr Clapton/Piano Engineer: Craig Hendry.
Miss Stewart/Mrs Crabbe-Harmsworth/Mrs Carthage/Mrs Blithehampton: Joanne Hildon.
Girl Reporter/Miss Linthropp: Elinor Keber.
Miss Hughes/Miss Havergal/News Reporter/Receptionist Nun: Rebecca Ramsden.
Mrs Whitbrace: Nicola Sanderson.
Director: Elgiva Field.
Designer/Costume: Rosemary Flegg.
Lighting: Richard Howell.
Sound: Adrienne Quartly.
2007-11-26 15:39:15