As part of their 60th anniversary celebrations, the Club had gone back to this rather dated play by Noel Coward. In some ways it was very apposite in that with a large cast of mainly elderly ladies (ex-actresses), it enabled numerous long-serving Members of the Club to make an appearance.
However, it has to be said that it is a bit creaky and far too long to sustain the somewhat shallow plot. It is set in the living room of The Wings, a charity home for retired actresses down on their luck. To accommodate the large cast, nineteen in all, an unusual set had been designed. The stage had its front curtains set back with a large apron, and to make full use of it as a row of seating –armchairs and settee –were located across the stage in a more or less straight line, which reflected upon the moves and positions of the cast to a large extent. It also set up a virtual barrier to the rear part of the stage which must have been difficult to see especially by those sitting on the flat. Perhaps the landing up-stage could have been used more – only one character was really allowed to make much use of it.
The play ambles along at a rather leisurely pace, and although there are several potentially dramatic sub-plots, only one – between actress Lotta and her son Alan, the latter returning from a long sojourn in Canada – gave us much in the way of dramatic tension.
Lotta, a recently retired leading actress although like the rest of the occupants, fallen on hard times, was well played by Paulette Barton, with her long standing feud with another former prima donna, May running through the play. May. A rather unforgiving character played by Kristina Mathieson, was in complete contrast to Lotta. Barbara Liddle as Deidre, an irascible Irish actress with a tendency to look on the black side of life also stood out and raised many of the evening’s laughs from the full house. Ramonde Grenville as Sarita whose mind is wandering, was again very prominent displaying both the pathos and the humour of the character beautifully. Gill Gordon-Williams, as Sylvia Archibald, the rather masculine superintendent came over well as did Richard Bruce as Perry, the jovial Secretary, obviously loving his job and efforts on behalf of the ladies. Annie Sutton as a journalist and Toby Champneys, the latter making a welcome return after a long absence, made their mark among the smaller parts. There were numerous delightful cameos for the remainder of the large cast, too numerous to mention here. The set, apart from the division mentioned above was very interesting and contrived to show the various parts of the home including the new solarium. It was once or twice difficult for the cast to make their exits at the end of the down-stage scenes.
The play covers quite a period of time and necessitated a lot of costume changes which worked well and provided a lot of contrast for the cast.
It was an evening of much nostalgia, thoroughly enjoyed by all those watching and very much suited to the occasion. |
