WHEN WE ARE MARRIED. To 29 March.
York
WHEN WE ARE MARRIED
by J.B. Priestley
Theatre Royal To 29, March 2003
Tue-Sat 7.30pm
Audio-described/BSL Signed: 28 March
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 01904 623568
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 March
A generous portion of enjoyment in a revival with some strong performances.This theatre was birthplace to the revolutionary Stephen Daldry-directed, Ian McNeil-designed An Inspector Calls which went on to wow the theatre world. But When We Are Married is an earlier piece 1938 and more thoroughly realistic. While not clogged with detail, and for reasons of economy having to cut the Mayor whose brief entry makes such a fine, absurd second act climax, this production has a strong sense of the play and its virtues.
Six years after his first independent play, and following dramas concerned with either the idea of Time or the state of the nation, Priestley wrote this pure comedy though, Time-wise, it does have that 'When' in the title and the suggestion of alternative possibilities in life.
But no, this is ripe plum-pudding realism. And it's set in Clecklewyke, in the West Riding Yorkshire Priestley grew up in (like The Good Companions' Bruddersford it's a portmanteau name step forward Cleckheaton and Heckmondwyke) around 1908. This is bang in the middle of what, in his later book The Edwardians Priestley would characterise as the 'Edwardian' era of 1900-1914: for him a time of youth, joy and plenty shattered by War. (That War looms over the 1912 of An Inspector Calls; it's nowhere to be sensed in this comedy.)
Never mind that young J.B. actually dined on cheap stale buns to afford the books he continually devoured. Looking back (as he often did, from Hampstead or the Isle of Wight) on his mythical Yorkshire, it was a time of peace, prosperity, fun and plenty. So he's on the side of youth: it's young Gerald Forbes, new chapel organist and full of southern 'Lah-di-dah' according to Councillor Albert Parker, the stout party set up to collapse, who sets the ball rolling and the cat among the pigeons by announcing the three civic bigwig couples celebrating their silver wedding anniversaries were never legally married.
In terms of this society young wool-merchant's clerk Priestley remembered enough of his trade to have the prosperous gents talk of Exchange prices in sheep breeds such a fall from the grace of economic and civic heights is a social disaster.
Jim Hooper shapes some fine performances, especially from Paul Clayton. He might have helped Clayton gradate the roaring for which Parker's repeatedly rebuked, to intensify its highest moments. But there are fine examples of tone and timing. The pride of nonconformist chapels in this world is the prominence of the annual Messiah. The humiliation of not getting in early is summed up by Clayton's pause then the vocal and screwed-face reference to what's clearly the third division among Messiah-givers - Picklebrook Wesleyans ; it's beautifully managed.
So are the relationships between the married couples: Christine Cox emerges from Parker's bullying shadow with a sweet intelligence that speaks of how much human quality was suppressed in such a society, while Sarah Parks displays a fine waspishness as the marriage-dominating Clara Soppitt.
There are limits: Rod Arthur's increasingly inebriated press photographer is competent but plodding, while the drunken vitriol of the housekeeper Mrs Northrop hardly undergoes a sharp transition under the Rev. Mercer's influence: she's strangely subdued by him as by no other person.
Though Alison Skilbeck is good as Maria Helliwell, there's more to be made of the proto-feminist moment when her husband's brief bit on the side comes to claim the newly unmarried man. It's a strong moment as she calmly hands over the keys to the (rather too) finely dressed visitor, detailing the dull routine of married life.
But all swings neatly along on Sue Plummer's set, with its celebratory, traditional elements picked out by red in the carpet and framing surrounds. The comedy may not all be cooked quite to boiling point, but it simmers along and at times bubbles merrily.
Ruby Birtle: Sarah Miller
Gerald Forbes: Alex Kerr
Mrs Northrop/Lottie Grady: Joanne Heywood
Nancy Holmes: Thea Rowland
Reverend Clement Mercer/Fred Dyson: Michael Charlesworth
Henry Ormanroyd: Rod Arthur
Alderman Joseph Helliwell: John Banks
Maria Helliwell: Alison Skilbeck
Councillor Albert Parker: Paul Clayton
Herbert Soppitt: Eamonn Fleming
Clara Soppitt: Sarah Parks
Annie Parker: Christine Cox
Director: Jim Hooper
Designer: Sue Plummer
Lighting: David Plater
Assistant Director: Jonathan Cocker
2003-03-25 16:36:01