Review: Accolade (Finborough Theatre)

This first ever revival of Emlyn Williams's 1950 play is remarkable in how unlike a period piece it feels.

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

Review: Quality Street (Finborough Theatre)

J.M. Barrie’s 1901 pre-Peter Pan romantic comedy invites a host of confectionary-related metaphors in this appealing production by Louise Hill, who recently directed Barrie’s What Every Woman Knows at the Finborough.

Quality Street enjoyed great success in London following on from its Broadway debut in 1902 and a film starring Katharine Hepburn was made in 1937, but hasn’t been seen on the British stage since 1946. In many ways, it is a gossamer thin piece that flirts with some ideas about the ‘Woman Question’ and ties everything up neatly with a rapturously romantic conclusion- which under the circumstances is exactly as it should be. 

Like Barrie’s most famous creation Peter Pan, Quality Street has a distinct air of whimsy and childlike innocence about it, but unlike Peter who makes a point of never growing up, it celebrates the process of growing into maturity. It is the stalwart heroine who is rewarded for her patience and is loved for the woman she has grown into, rather than the silly, giggling coquette she assumes that men want.

The play is set amongst a community run by widows and spinsters during the Napoleonic Wars of the early nineteenth century, the conflict that Jane Austen notably (or notoriously, depending on your perspective) never mentioned in her novels. Barrie’s writing has some Austen-esque observations, and the sister relationship, to me, provides the play’s real heart. Confirmed old maid Susan Throssel’s (Daisy Ashford) devotion to her younger sister Phoebe and determination for her to have the things that she was deprived of is gently touching.

This is a society not dissimilar from Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford, filled with knitting, tea and cards, where the arrival of a man- particularly a young handsome one like Mr Valentine Brown (James Russell) whom everyone expects to propose to Miss Phoebe Throssel (Claire Redcliffe) is the source of much excitement and speculation. His exciting news is that he is about to enlist in the army, leaving Phoebe heartbroken and she voluntarily enters premature spinsterhood. She and her sister have also lost their money through an investment recommended to them by Valentine, forcing them to earn their own living by starting a school for genteel children in their parlour, which they are ill qualified to run.

Phoebe’s response when Valentine returns from the wars (minus one hand) is to masquerade as her imaginary niece ‘Livvy’ and becomes the most sought after belle in local society. The extraordinary thing about her transformation is that it is believable that she wouldn’t be recognised. It isn’t just the physical embellishments, but the way in which her entire manner changes. Valentine Brown is dashing but tactless, an entirely clueless young man who never goes through the jolt of self awareness that convinces the audience that he is entirely worthy of Phoebe.

The production values are remarkably lavish but tasteful. Alex Marker’s elegant and airy blue and white set (beautifully lit by Phil Bentley) and the stylish Regency costumes (by Mike Lees) ensure that this fanciful confection is dressed up to its best advantage.

Louise Hill directs with great charm and sympathy and a light touch. Although I would have liked a little more insight into Barrie’s views about the changing roles of women in society, rather like comparing Georgette Heyer with Jane Austen, it’s a piece that’s best enjoyed for what it is, rather than what it isn’t.

Review: Me and Juliet (Finborough Theatre)

 It’s probably fair to say that there’s a professional production of at least one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Big Five” musicals (Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music) running at any time in the UK. All of these musicals have gained iconic status and having triumphed last year with the European stage premiere of the duo’s only musical written directly for the silver screen State Fair (which earned a West End transfer), Thom Southerland returns to the intimate Finborough Theatre with the even more obscure meta musical Me and Juliet. Me and Juliet played for 358 performances on Broadway in 1953 and has (to my knowledge) never been revived since.

Me and Juliet is almost two musicals in one, dealing with the backstage intrigue (will the nice guy rescue the girl from her boorish boyfriend?) amongst the cast and crew of a frothy revue, probably not dissimilar from the ones that dominated Broadway when Rodgers and Hammerstein had the audacity to open Oklahoma! with a middle aged woman churning butter onstage, full of contrived lyrics, stock characters and songs and dance routines full of hats, canes, feathers and fans. The ‘real’ characters are fairly weak by Hammerstein’s standards, but what happens offstage is still more engaging than the revue numbers.

The original production boasted a cast of 74, which is scaled down to 15 on the Finborough’s compact stage (plus the pianist) and features some ingenious staging. Alex Marker’s set evokes the bare bones of Broadway grandeur and the less glamorous backstage and choreographer Sally Brooks does her best to make the show-within-a-show numbers interesting. It’s a parody of fluffy schmaltz and although Hammerstein was the real radical of the partnership, he wasn’t a writer of seemingly effortlessly punchy lyrics like Lorenz Hart or Cole Porter and these numbers fall rather flat (not that Rodgers’s music is much more inspired). However, the references to meta theatre with The Big Black Giant, about the changing nature of audiences and Intermission Talk, in which audience members lament the decline of theatre are cleverly done and show how little things change, even if front of house staff no longer sell cigarettes.

I think the greatest aspect of Hammerstein’s genius was being able to make ordinary characters and stories extraordinary and there are hints of this in the central romance. Jeanie and Larry’s exploration of their feelings for each other through rehearsing the show’s love ballad No Other Love is very much in keeping with the ‘love song with a twist’ pioneered by Hammerstein. It’s fun spotting all the little references to Carousel, most notably in Jeanie’s macho, commitment shy boyfriend Bob (John Addison) a Billy Bigelow type, but impossible to feel any real sympathy for because of the delight he takes in mocking his girlfriend. His crisis of masculinity with a bottle of scotch and attempt at redemption doesn’t tug at the heartstrings in quite the same way.

Laura Main, who was a lovely ingénue in State Fair, is just as endearing as the uncertain chorus girl Jeanie and sings with a beautiful purity. Her romance with the utterly decent, nearly middle aged ASM Larry (Robert Hands) is a bit like watching Julie Jordan marry the Starkeeper, but the very warm and sincere chemistry between the two makes it work. Jodie Jacobs also has fun as sassy Southern soubrette Betty, whose duet with Jeanie It’s Me, about being able to become a different person deserves to be better known.

While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this to a Rodgers and Hammerstein newcomer (better to start with one of the meatier offerings), that is not in any way to belittle Thom Southerland’s lively and unpretentious production and the spirited cast. It offers a fascinating insight into a rarity and the scale is spot-on- to try to recreate it in its original lavish form would be slightly ridiculous. Perhaps Thom Southerland could be persuaded to give the same treatment to Allegro or Pipe Dream to complete his collection of Rodgers and Hammerstein rarities- I’m sure many Rodgers and Hammerstein groupies would appreciate that. And as his next project is apparently Carousel, the most glorious of the canon, I hope he casts Laura Main as Julie Jordan.

Originally posted on A Younger Theatre