`Afterplay And the Bear"

I hadn’t seen these two productions before and so was very pleased to receive Dilys Guite’s invite. They were both excellent, with a very talented cast and director.

The first play, “The Bear”, relates to the life of Elena, a widow, who locks herself away from the outside world to deal with her grief. She still loves her husband even though he was unfaithful to her many times. Luka, the ever-faithful servant, takes care of her and is allowing no visitors. All this is about to change as Gregory barges in demanding that she pays him the money owed by her late husband. Arguments, anger and witty remarks are then dealt out to each other in equal measure through copious amounts of dialogue. However, emotions start to change when Gregory realises that he is in love with Elena and, in time, she with him.           Ada Urbaniak was first-class as Elena and moved with ease from one emotion to another. Alex Wilson was excellent as Gregory and gave great deliveries of dialogue in the strong voice required for this character. While all this was going on, Luka tries to keep the peace between them, and Nigel Turner played this role to perfection. These three actors worked very well together with a great pace of dialogue and excellent acting throughout.

The second piece was “Afterplay” again with two very talented and experienced actors taking on the roles of Sonya (Lara Bundock) and Andrey (Adam Booth). Sonya and Andrey meet by accident for the second time in a Moscow cafe. They tell each other their life stories, and those of their families. These stories are never true and keep on changing but, in time, their true lives are revealed. This wonderfully written piece of drama is filled with laughter and tears as we see their characters change and their lives become clear. As the play ends, Andrey begins to fall in love with Sonya, but is it ever going to be reciprocated? These two actors had copious amount of dialogue and emotions to deal with and Lara and Adam excelled in their roles.

These two plays were very different but both either made us laugh or feel sorrow while at the same time delivering an understanding for the characters. This was all achieved by exceptional acting and direction with the support of the technical and stage teams.

Thank you for the invite and hospitality and a most enjoyable evening.

 

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