AFTER ELECTRA

Having read the poster for After Electra I must admit I was a little worried about what to expect, but knowing Bovingdon Players I put my faith in their undoubted abilities as a company to bring us a well-judged production……and that is exactly what we got.

The subject matter of suicide and the consequences, especially when everything went horribly wrong, was dealt with in a matter-of-fact way, and sympathetically within the bounds of the script, which was very cleverly written, and yes, there was some swearing, but only where it would have been used ordinarily, and so much humour too.

The static set was well-conceived, giving the actors plenty of room for movement, and the scenes were marked by a dimming of lights, and very swift changes with musical accompaniment, which kept the audience engaged and did not break the chain of feeling.

Lighting was simple but adequate, and sound was good throughout.  Costumes suited the characters and gave a feel of each actor’s persona.

Imogen Roberts played Virgie, an artist who had seemingly deserted her family for her art, and intended to commit suicide after her birthday party.  A wonderful portrayal from Imogen, showing the down to earth reasoning, then her angst and anger, acceptance then death.  Beautifully done.

Abbe Waghorn played Haydn, Virgie’s daughter, who felt she’d never had the love of her mother – a finely crafted performance, showing a withdrawn woman, and her inevitable reactions from being the almost forgotten offspring, left to cope as best she could.  Good nuances within the portrayal.

Virgie’s two friends, Tom (John Mower) and Sonia (Penny Coombs) gave us the actor and his wife, who lived their lives somehow separately but together, a love/hate relationship that comes from a self-centred actor and his follower!  John was a typical actor, loud and knowing, whilst Penny had some of the best one liners in the play, which she delivered in an understated way that made them even funnier.  A very good pairing, I enjoyed their sparring.

Liz Lewis played Virgie’s sister Shirley, a lady who had made a career for herself in education and had risen the ranks, but felt her sister was not looking at life in perhaps the way she should.  I always enjoy Liz’s performances, and this was no exception.

Robert Peacock (Orin), was the son who kept turning up when things went wrong with his marriage, very much a Mummy’s boy, but unreliable, a good part for Robert to get his teeth into, nicely achieved.

Kevin Broadfoot played Roy, a scouse taxi driver who ferried Haydn about, and had fallen into a relationship with her.  Kevin created a very contrasting character, who added much to the overall feeling of the play.

Finally, we had Deniz Simsek Duhig (Miranda), a protegee of Virgie and appreciative of her art, a good foil to the other characters.

Congratulations to first-time Director Ben Hooker, I felt we had seen a perspicacious and well-performed production, which was funny, but also left me with deeper questions running round my head – an excellent evening’s entertainment.  My thanks to Bovingdon Players for their hospitality, always a pleasure to visit them.

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