WHEN WE ARE MARRIED. To 3 August.
Aldeburgh
WHEN WE ARE MARRIED
by J.B. Priestley
Jill Freud & Company at Aldeburgh Summer Theatre, Jubilee Hall To 3 August 2002
Mon-Sat 8.15pm Mat Sat 5pm
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS 01728 453007 (to 4pm) 01728 454022 (From 6pm)
Review Timothy Ramsden 30 July
A revival that joyfully captures Priestley's hearty spirit with strong performances and excellent set.Though he never returned to live in Bradford, Priestley repeatedly looked back on his pre-world War I birthplace as somewhere filled with a zestful joy in living. Richard Frost's production scores high in capturing this appeal in Priestley's comedy set in 1908 Cleckleywyke, a fictional Yorkshire town.
Big theatres have come a cropper with this sturdy comedy through imposing intrusive design and production ideas. Maurice Rubens' set is ideal, catching the heavy colours – chocolate walls and deep-coloured papering, with heftily assertive ornamentation - that reflect the subdued ostentation of self-made prosperity among the chapel-going population.
Let the People Sing, Priestley's 1939 'radio-novel', sums up his view of life in its title and Frost allows the healthy democratic spirit underlying Cleckleywyke society to sing out. Nia Davies might not look quite 15 but she has the plain-speaking directness of her society: see how her eyes focus on the shilling bribe she's offered early on.
And Jill Freud's char may loosen her tongue further by drinking, but her smiling openness from the start as she gives her views on her employers shows she's someone that no-one's going to keep quiet when she's something to say.
Roger Booth's rotund and rubicund press photographer similarly hauls back on the alcohol's impact; only in his last scene could there be more letting-rip: the character comes over neatly but lacks a final explosive bonhomie – that of a latter-day, over-sozzled Pickwick who finally unleashes the beneficent truth upon the troubled couples.
Jeannie Crowther and Di Langford are redoubtable comic presences, marital fortresses buttressed by indomitable bosoms terrorising the surrounding human landscapes with their oral firepower. Even allowing for Annie's comparative mildness, Rebekah Janes isn't in the same vocal league – or age range – but invests her character with a clear intelligence. Refusing to be cowed by her awful husband (a too-monotonously booming Ian Barritt), covering the others' confusion with the press present, she comes over as the type ready to be take advantage of increasing independence for women.
It's a play full of theatrical opportunities and pitfalls; this production exploits the first, avoiding almost all the second in something as near vintage Priestley as I've seen.
Ruby Birtle: Nia Davies
Gerald Forbes: Matthew Storey
Mrs Northrop: Jill Freud
Nancy Holmes: Joanna Croll
Fred Dyson: Gary Bates
Henry Ormonroyd: Roger Booth
Alderman Joseph Helliwell: Clive Flint
Maria Helliwell: Jeannie Crowther
Councillor Albert Parker: Ian Barritt
Annie Parker: Rebekah Janes
Herbert Soppitt: Jeffrey Perry
Clara Soppitt: Di Langford
Lottie Brady: Nicola Delaney
Reverend Clement Mercer: Gerry Hinks
Director: Richard Frost
Designer: Maurice Rubens
Lighting: Jim Laws
Costume: Richard Handscombe
Sponsores: AKT – Corporate Training, The Amber Shop, Jennie Jones Estate Agents, John Mc
2002-07-31 12:02:31