Williams enjoyed a long career in theatre and in Hollywood as a writer and an actor and never made a secret of being bisexual. Accolade concerns a man living a double life; not a relationship with another man - for there are references to him having sex with women - but an addiction to the hedonistic lifestyle portrayed in his novels.
The play is incredibly resonant. Will Trenting, a controversial novelist whose books describe dubious sexual practices in the East End, is about to be welcomed into the establishment with a knighthood.
This scenario is a familiar one in a society where the personal lives of public figures are constantly under scrutiny with rumourmongers desperate to get hold any hint of scandal. The real damage is inflicted on the accused’s family and friends, and the tension is almost unbearable when Trenting has to explain his predicament to his son Ian (a thoughtful performance by Patrick Osborne in the tricky role of an adult playing a child) in a way that an unworldly fourteen year old will understand.
Aden Gillett wonderfully illuminates the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde sides to Trenting’s character. He isn’t the easiest protagonist to warm to, a man who is accustomed to having the best of both worlds- comfortable domesticity in Regent's Park with his wife and son, and the freedom to abandon it all in pursuit of inspiration for his books. The closest friends he makes on these exploits, Cockney good time couple Harold and Phyllis (Simon Darwen and Olivia Darnley), are genuinely caring towards Trenting and his family but not as entirely golden of heart as they might seem. The play isn’t exactly a defence of hedonism as the ultimate lesson than Trenting learns is that he can’t have things both ways without repercussions and shouldn’t expect to.
There is a skin-crawlingly sinister, rather Dickensian turn from Graham Seed (the much mourned Nigel Pargetter on The Archers) as the blackmailer, Daker. Oily in manner and appearance with a protruding tongue, this failed writer seeks influence, which in the literary world is far more valuable than money. Saskia Wickham, delivers an outstandingly sensitive performance as Trenting’s rather too understanding wife Rona, who was attracted to him because his unusual sexual preferences excited her and never turned a blind eye to her husband’s activities, but has become somewhat desensitised over fifteen years of marriage.
Blanche McIntyre’s beautifully understated production shows how powerfully emotion can be conveyed without raised voices. McIntyre and her impeccable cast make a strong case for Emlyn Williams to receive a similar kind of attention to the treatment that Terence Rattigan is receiving this year. Williams’s label as ‘the Welsh Noel Coward’ seems rather misleading- beyond the well-upholstered drawing room (designed by James Cotterill and lined with excellent bookcase wallpaper) is a very painful reality that The Master’s characters in their secluded little world are comfortably shielded from.
Written for musicOMH
