All in Good Time

This play was performed at Farnworth Little Theatre which is currently undergoing a facelift and the playing area was on the floor with seating around 3 sides. This worked really well for this piece which gave it an intimacy that’s hard to achieve when played on a traditional stage. The players adapted well to the different staging and for many of them it was the first time playing in the round.

The costumes hair and makeup worked well and were in keeping with the time and I liked the direction of the scenes particularly as it felt so intimate. The writing by Bill Naughton is wonderfully observant but it relies very much on the strength of characterisation of the actors and the learning of dialogue which for many of the actors was quite immense. I would like to mention the very good job the prompt did as she was very unobtrusive and kept the flow of the scenes on the odd occasion when a prompt was needed.

The players and Director had clearly worked on the characterisations of each part as each player fitted his or her role beautifully.

Clive McCoy and Sharron Knott were stunning in their roles as Ezra and Lucy Fitton respectively. Clive’s portrayal had me both laughing and crying with it’s touching final scenes. Sharron had a warmth that exuded across the stage.

Sara Collinson played a naïve Violet extremely well with a real depth in her confused state as the young newlywed. She looked lovely and delivered her lines with ease and I really believed in her relationships with both her parents and her new husband.

Ben Latham as Arthur Fitton the newlywed husband played a blinder. His quiet manner in the role and his pent up anger were so well portrayed that sometimes I forgot I was watching a play so drawn in was I. The final scenes with his dad were so touching and so well played by both actors.

Each of the supporting roles filled their parts well including the two beautiful lovebirds in the final scene.

This was a lovely production with great attention to detail from the Director, production team, crew and actors which made for a very pleasurable evening.

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