A Kiss on the Bottom

The warmest of welcomes is always waiting for me whenever I arrive at the South Holland Centre to watch St Nicolas Players’ latest offering. It was lovely to see familiar faces, Nigel Hancocks and Stella Turner, in their roles as front of house staff, with copies of the excellent programme in hand. There was plenty to read and look at on its pages as I settled into my seat in the auditorium. It included an in-depth section from director, Jules Jones, explaining why the society had chosen such a challenging, and potentially triggering play, to produce. In Jules’ own words, “St Nics have never shied away from bringing dark comedy, gritty subjects and real situations to the stage.” Frank Vickery’s poignant yet humorous script tells the story of three women on a hospital ward for cancer treatment during the 1990s. It follows the trials and tribulations of the ladies as they pull together in the toughest of times, motivated and driven to overcome their battles by the strongest and most forthright of them all, Marlene.

Sporting a leopard print dressing gown and matching slippers, it was clear from the outset that this character was a force to be reckoned with and Emma Gilbert was simply outstanding in the role. She glided through her dialogue with precision and pace and brought such truth and honesty to her performance. Her countless witty lines like “My husband’s idea of foreplay is a pint of lager and a game of darts” and “You were snoring so loud I thought you were in a coma” were delivered with enviable comic timing but equally she could play the pathos with sensitivity and gut-wrenching emotion. One of Emma’s numerous memorable moments for me was her final scene where she looked back at the ward she was leaving, her home for so many weeks, an uncertain future ahead of her. She said no words but her acting spoke volumes – a dominant, brash, seemingly confident woman, left extraordinarily exposed and vulnerable. So powerful.

To Marlene’s left was the sharp, straight-talking, Grace, an elderly lady coming to the end of her treatment and resigned to her fate. The role was played to perfection by accomplished actor, Lynn Kirk, whose dynamic performance skilfully captured the character’s fading elegance and distressing physical deterioration. Lynn’s voice acting was commendable and beautifully controlled; she contrasted Grace’s rich, well-spoken tones earlier in the play with much softer, brittle intonation as she grew weaker and frailer. Lynn’s emotional performance had the power to draw the audience deep into the action and the scene where mirror-shy Grace doesn’t recognise herself in a photograph was a stand-out moment for me. When eventually the realisation dawned that it was, in actual fact, herself, it was truly heart-breaking.

The third patient on the ward was gentle, unassuming Lucy, played by Kelly Taylor who embraced her character with the warmth and generosity the role required. She was, in my opinion, considerably too young for the part, but I do understand the challenges societies sometimes face during the casting process, and this shouldn’t detract from Kelly’s charming performance which I enjoyed very much. She portrayed the loneliness and vulnerability of Lucy through her well-observed facial expressions, body language and tone of voice, making it even more painful to watch as it became increasingly evident that her family were more concerned with her house than her health.

The fourth and final principal role was Nurse Bev portrayed by Donna Robinson who encompassed the calm, capable manner of the profession with ease. She flitted in and out of the scenes, delivering medication and turning down beds with a lovely naturalism, staying on the peripheries of the action and unfolding drama with some clever quips and blunt humour. I particularly liked her description of Marlene as “a human bulldozer”. Other medical staff were played by Jules Jones, Gemma Burton and Arline Evenden and all gave sincere, realistic performances. As did Lily Bergin as fourth patient, June, who appeared briefly at the beginning and end of the play.

Well done to director, Jules Jones, for guiding and supporting her actors in, what are evidently, very challenging roles. Not only did the three main characters have large amounts of lines, but they also had to carry a particularly emotional and overwhelming storyline with many hard-hitting subplots. Also, as the script is quite dialogue-heavy, there was a danger that it could be quite static, but Jules cleverly avoided this by keeping her characters moving as much as possible without it looking contrived. There were a few adlibs I wasn’t sure about, one jarred particularly with the personality of a character. However, I really liked the insertion of local references which were obviously appreciated by the audience and made the action more relatable and in turn provided further ‘emotional punch’.

Lighting and sound design was good and the effective light changes and well-chosen sound effects were played on cue by operators, Ed Sawyer and Steve Jackson. I particularly liked the use of spots and tight pools of light to isolate certain characters to emphasise moments of fear and heartache. I wasn’t totally sold on the use of head mics for the actors. For me, it took a while to become accustomed to them as they are not commonly used in plays performed in relatively intimate theatres. Having said that, they were good quality mics and, once I was used to the amplified sound, was only reminded of them by a crackle or two if the actors caught them by accident.

The set, set dressing, props and costumes were excellent and took the production to the next level. In the programme, Jules commented that the actors had ‘the most amazing space to play in’, and they absolutely did. From the hospital bands on the patients’ wrists to the working hospital beds (lent to St Nics by an organisation called ARJO), it was a joy to behold. At every turn there was attention to detail, even the plastic jugs and glasses were so reminiscent of those used by the NHS. Another of my favourite moments was when the payphone was wheeled out for Marlene to use. It was so well made and placed the era perfectly, as did the nineties style ‘chunky’ TV set. There was even a canula on Marlene’s hand . . . I won’t go on but, needless to say, I was super impressed. Huge congratulations to the production team (Arline Evenden, Richard Evenden, Blanche Robinson, Nigel Hancocks and Janet Staples).

If I’m truly honest, I did struggle with the subject matter of this play and found it a hard watch, as I’m sure other audience members will have. It certainly wouldn’t have been a play I would have chosen to go and see. So, I am grateful to NODA for bringing me to the South Holland Centre to report on this or I would have missed out on some superb performances and some very high-quality production values. Thank you to Jules, her stage manager, Arline, her DSM, Joanna Hobbs, and the rest of the team for an evening of theatre you had all clearly worked so incredibly hard to produce.

 

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