WILD ORCHIDS. In rep to 20 July.
Chichester
WILD ORCHIDS
by Jean Anouilh, translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Chichester Festival Theatre In rep to 20 July 2002
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mats Thur & Sat 2.30pm
Runs 2hr 25min One interval
TICKETS 01243 781312
Review Timothy Ramsden 19 June
Elegant and often beautifully played, Anouilh's fantasy is given every chance in Chichester.A sketch in the 1980s radio comedy Radioactive had a local station reporter persecuted by a steel band, its players bonging their way into her every hiding place. The young hatmaker Amanda in Anouilh's 1939 Leocadia might share the despair of the aurally stalked. There are times she can't move or see a door open without a gypsy band coming in and striking up.
There again, her whole position might be out of Kafka. Summoned to an estate presided over by a diminutive Duchess, to whom centuries of family history are but fleeting moments, Amanda has no idea why she's there: all she learns is that the Duchess did her out of her last employment.
As the fantasy grows, so do the parallels. The estate has been turned into a giant theme park to the memory of the Prince's dead love, the artiste Leocadia. But for all Edward Kemp's skill in balancing whimsy and humour – only some sub-Python silly walks dumb down the tone – it's easy to think of each element put to more penetrating use by other writers: Bennett's Enjoy and Pirandello's Henry IV are just two examples.
Poppy Mitchell's spot-on storybook sets deepen the fantasy, and the casting shows – as with The Front Page – a healthy willingness this season to peddle back on the stars. Though Michael Jayston is fine as the hesitant Hector, and Patricia Routledge superb in giving what could be merely a wilful, rich eccentric a deep human concern for the nephew she tries to cocoon from life without Leocadia.
As the dead woman's lookalike, Chichester's invited back Catherine Walker, so excellent in a similar role in Tennessee Williams' Stairs to the Roof last autumn at the Minerva (is there a theme – the Minerva's about to offer Up on the Roof; next year Three Steps to Heaven?). Walker mixes desirable elegance with a worker's awkward mannerisms, though Kemp might have helped her to a wider palette of vocal tone and rhythm. Still, it's thrilling to see how Andrew Scarborough's over-stiff Prince is lifted into new life by this woman.
With fine comic playing from Timothy Bateson and David Timson, it's easy to believe this is as good as it'll ever get with Anouilh.
Amanda: Catherine Walker
The Duchess: Patricia Routledge
The Footman: Timothy Wright
The Butler/The Inn Proprietor: Timothy Bateson
Hector: Michael Jayston
The Ice-Cream Vendor: Roland MacLeod
The Taxi Driver/The Gamekeeper: Edward Clayton
The Prince: Andrew Scarborough
The Head Waiter: David Timson
The Cloakroom Lady: Sheila Shand Gibbs
The First Violin Player: Helmut Scholz
The Second Violin Player: Kit Benjamin
The Accordion Player: Katherine Toy
The Guitar Player: Lewis Hancock
Mariette: Rosanna Mason
Director: Edward Kemp
Designer: Poppy Mitchell
Lighting: Jon Buswell
Sound: John A. Leonard
Music: Gary Yershon
Musical Director: Lewis Hancock
Choreographer: Susan Nash
Sponsor: Seaward
2002-06-20 01:59:13