Albert Nobbs

­Written by Gordon Steel this play tells the story of Albert Nobbs life.  Albert’s life has been one of hard graft, but when retirement arrives… it isn’t at all what Albert expected! Instead of relaxing and taking thing easy, Albert finds himself bored and nagged senseless by his wife Connie. His world is turned upside down by the sudden death of Connie in a car accident and he struggles to find a reason to carry on – until Connie returns as a ghost and sets about organising a fulfilling retirement for Albert.

On reading the synopsis, I wasn’t really sure of what to expect, except for the quality of performance I was going to see from Lichfield Players. The script is really very funny and The Players performed it with expert timing, not allowing the audience any let-up before the next wave of laughter began, from the very first words of Connie lying on her bed informing the audience that she is actually dead! The cast consisted of only four members but they worked so well together, the play had pace and there was never a ‘space’ when the audience were left wondering what was going to happen. Chris Stanley played Albert Nobbs and convinced everyone that he just was not coping with retirement, added to that, he had to overcome the death of his wife, Connie. I have seen Chris on a number of occasions now and he is always so professional in everything he does on stage; he pays so much attention to the finer details you almost forget that he is acting! Connie, his wife, was played by Denise Baker, someone else who is confident in all that she does, and there was a great relationship between the two of them. Carol Talbot as Rose was also convincing as Connie’s friend and as for Rosemary Bodger as Alice…what can I say? It is never easy to ignore a character on stage when you shouldn’t be seeing or hearing them, but on no occasion did I spot a glance from either Carol or Rosemary in the direction of Denise when she was speaking as ‘the ghost’, well done ladies.

The set was very minimalistic, performed in front of a black cloth with lounge furniture to complete it. However, I loved the touch of using members of the stage crew to act as cupboards, shelves and coat stands throughout the play. I also thought the lighting was extremely effective, giving a good indication when the actors were going back in time.

This was Stefan Dufaye’s directing debut with The Players and it was most impressive, hopefully there will be more to come.

The audience could not fail to go out with a smile on their face, as I said, a very funny script expertly performed. Well done to all involved.

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