WHITE LIES/PRO-ACTIVE. To 13 September.
Tour
WHITE LIES and PRO-ACTIVE.
by Robert Shearman by Alma Cullen.
Stephen Joseph Theatre (McCarthy) 25 August 7.45pm then Tour to 13 September 2007.
also White Lies Stephen Joseph Theatre Restaurant 17, 24, 31 Aug 1.10pm
Pro-Active Stephen Joseph Theatre Restaurant 20, 30 Aug 1.10pm
Runs White Lies 55min Pro-Active 50min One interval (double-bill)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 10 August
Two short plays from lunchtime given deserved evening exposure.
Scarborough has long enjoyed the bonus of short lunchtime plays in the Stephen Joseph’s restaurant during summer. Recently, a couple have also toured the region as an evening double-bill. This year the touring duo also have several evening showings in the McCarthy auditorium.
It’s well worthwhile with this strong pairing, linked by the theme of unhappy marriages. Robert Shearman’s White Lies is a gem, chiming-in with the current N F Simpson revivals at London’s Donmar. Simon and Claire’s middle-class marriage has become a matter of bored habituation, which they spark-up by inventing an imaginary friend, who visits them weekly, with a routine as precise as would be expected from this couple.
Both are aware of the pretence but remain happy to escape into belief from their real lives. Shearman follows them through a jealous tug-of-love over the non-existent visitor; at one point both hide him in the same wardrobe, trying to conceal his ‘presence’ from each other.
If Shearman rarely ventures from the family home, Alma Cullen goes extra-mural as well as extra-marital in the three encounters of her Pro-Active. Philandering Daniel meets his mistress, wife (recovering from a break-down on her ‘Pro-active’ programme) and his secretary on different Fridays, moving from failure to bigger failure in this comedy of relationships.
For all his lies, Daniel’s the opposite of pro-active in these meetings, seemingly content his life should go on like this. Certainly the end’s so inconclusive it has to be chalked up like another date on the bar’s menu-board. Meanwhile, each of his women escapes the relationship with him, lover Joy by emigrating, wife Steph by asserting herself through the challenge of telling him she knows of his infidelity, secretary Elaine both by her actions back at his office and in turning out more than the devoted servant he’s talked about to the others.
Alison Moyle creates three vivid if necessarily limited portraits, while her Claire in White Lies is a finely observed picture of desperation-driven energy. Ben Fox gives crisp, economic performances of Simon’s emerging hopes for his marriage and the self-serving Daniel in Adam Barnard’s well-judged productions.
White Lies.
Simon: Ben Fox.
Claire: Sarah Moyle.
Pro-Active.
Joy/Stephi/Elaine: Sarah Moyle.
Daniel: Ben Fox.
Director: Adam Barnard.
Designer: Michael Roberts.
2007-08-16 15:17:55