Always Look On The Bright Side

It’s certainly a challenge to create a compilation production around the theme of life, birth and death which is both moving and funny. Cuckfield’s innovative programme started with a short play by a locally known playwright, interval, then comedic sketches or short plays, and the welcoming atmosphere and the members hospitality to everyone in really set the tone of warmth for the audience. The seating was cabaret style with complimentary nibbles included which was a lovely touch, however it did seem to lend itself to some of the audience talking very loudly during some of the performance as they seemed to have made themselves a little too comfortable.

The first half was “The Cyclamen”: a new short play by Richard Willis, with whom they have previously collaborated. Set in a nursing home for older people, this is about four characters all living there, supported by a nurse in charge. The main characters are Charlie played by Peter Bowman and Adrian played by Philip Robinson; as chalk and cheese characters as you could possibly get, yet firm friends. The set is wonderful, two working doors downstage right and left and armchairs upstage left and a small sofa and coffee table stage right. Even the pictures on the walls and the wall paper really made it look like many a real residential home. The props were necessary and effective: the water jug and cups even looked like they were from a residential home or hospital setting.

Right from the entrance you can tell these people are older / more infirm than they may otherwise appear. The change in physicality is achieved extremely well. Particularly impressive is Philip Robinson’s not use of his left arm due to the effect of a stroke he mentioned, even when picking up things from the floor he absolutely stayed true to this: it was very well maintained. However, the whole play would have really benefitted from more pace in the delivery of dialogue: there were places where it felt as if the audience were waiting for lines with larger than usual gaps between one person speaking and the next person speaking, especially in a duologue. This may well be an opening night factor.

There were lots of things to like about this play and the production of it: Val Saunders attire as Glenda, especially her socks and the way she sat were hilarious; Samantha Parsons makeup as the daughter Jessica was gorgeous: she really did look ill. The audience instantly knew the gentle fobbing off to the other characters that she was fine was a lie, due to her look and her physicality.

The scene changes did take a long time, however, as this was opening night it’s likely these will get quicker every time. There were a couple of odd things, such as the person looking after them who kept going in and out during one scene, fetching blankets and then folding them up: if there was a reason this wasn’t clear. That the set opened with nobody on it and voices calling from off stage wouldn’t have been an issue if it was a very short period, but this did go on for quite some time before someone came on, where the audience were sat looking at an empty stage. There are mentions in the play that set it currently, yet one character is looking at a current copy of “The Sun” tabloid paper for the infamous page three of old, however, that hasn’t existed in that way for quite some years now.

However, special mention has to go to the two leading men in this play: Peter Bowman as Charlie and Philip Robinson as Adrian. The friendship between them was so palpable the audience could feel it. The smashing pot scene was really quite unexpected but very surprising and welcome and very moving. Peter’s emotional pitching of his end scene, his physical portrayal of erupting grief was absolutely heartbreaking and so on point. Quality talent shone through here and was a pleasure to watch through tears.

After the interval there were seven different pieces, and while Cuckfield should be applauded for giving value for their audience members’ night out, it did end up feeling overly long. The first, “In the Beginning” was a reimagined version of the Bible’s Adam and Eve and the Serpent meeting; the apple being an apple martini. The actor due to play Adam was ill on this occasion so Abigail Hyde kindly stepped in script in hand. Although she did an admirable job and the other two: Fox Moody as Eve and Paul Ruse as the Serpent carried on with professional attitudes, the fact that this is a play about the first ever man meeting the first ever woman, and the person playing the man is clearly not a man, yet the script requires them all to talk at length about Adam’s physicality including lots of sex discussions and “propagating the species”: this was a visual issue for the audience which made the play quite hard to get into, even though the audience were understanding and forgiving of the circumstances. Paul Ruse’s stress of the Sss in words was delightful, as was Fox Moody’s echo of this when she said “trust me” to Adam when she offers him the green liqueur.

“Goodbye Simon” was an absolute delight, real quality acting. Caroline Morley and Abigail Hyde worked incredibly well together and this elevated everything. “The End of the World”: a famous TV sketch, was hilarious. Pitched perfectly and performed beautifully. “Growing up” was next, about young children experiencing the pressures that their parents put on them even pre 1 years old, followed by “The Test” which seemed incredibly long compared to the others. The writing in this one also seemed very old, ill researched, and based purely in architypes and stereotypes; despite being an established play. Although the performances were lovely: Bruce Blake and Fox Moody played really well and were very believable, the play itself was jarring in today’s world. “The Parrot” sketch is one of the most famous sketches in the world and because of that, it’s incredibly hard not to compare a new version with the original classic. It was lovely to end the show with “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” preceded by “I’m a Lumberjack” however the audience might have felt more at ease if the actors had appeared a little more confident and been spaced and placed and moved together. But again that could be opening night nerves: the lead singer’s voice was really lovely, and we were encouraged to sing along.

It’s amazing to try something innovative and congratulations and well done to the whole company for embracing a new idea and putting everything into it. This clearly took time and energy and effort to create together and the welcoming nature of the group and the people in it made for a lovely evening.

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