BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED

The Tamaritans

BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED By Gail Young

As seen by Nina Jarram, NODA SW District 3 Representative on Saturday 22nd March 2025

Directed by: Steve Baker

The Watermark Theatre, Ivybridge.

Upon entering the performance space, we were greeted by a split stage depicting two contrasting areas. Stage left showed a stark looking uninviting area with three chairs whilst stage right offered us a warmer looking suggestion of a living room with two brightly coloured, busy patterned fabric covered armchairs and two pictures hanging slantingly yet purposefully. Reading the programme and learning more about the play, a touching portrayal of a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s, it was clear that the Director had thought about this use of stage design to portray a theatrical metaphor of confusion, lack of clarity and life being turned on its side through the perspective of family.

It would have been a shame not to have use the titled song of, ‘Bothered and Bewildered’ to set the mood for this tender theme and the Director did not disappoint us. The lyrics, ‘a simpering, whimpering child again’ were very poignant as the story unfolded and we were introduced to the actress playing Irene demonstrating appropriate frail physicality and frustrated emotional facial expressions. Just when we though that we were in for a hard slog of the heart, we met Barbara Cartland. This was a wonderful and joyful performance from an experienced actress who delivered cleverly crafted observations, amusing the audience with the juxtaposition of an older, well known character with language and content reminiscent of their younger years. This certainly was not expected but was presented with excellent comedic timing, a cheeky grin and a hilarious eye roll, a thoroughly enjoyable performance. Her outfit may not have been of the cerise pink that we are used to seeing Barbara in, but the performance was definitely colourful!

The Director chose to break the fourth wall by having Barbara Cartland sit amongst the audience watching the drama unfold whilst coming back on stage to visit Irene providing her opinions on what was happening. This worked extremely well and amongst the hard hitting reality of the situation, it was a breath of fresh air every time we witnessed  these comedic moments from these two actresses showing childlike tendencies to responses of precious memories.

There were strong performances from the two actresses playing Beth and Louise, successfully portraying the contrast between the daughter who is headstrong and realistic with the daughter appearing to struggle more with the emotional fallout of the situation.

There were some well-crafted moments in the play such as the use of a white shawl to show the loss of a baby, very impactful in its simplicity, alongside a beautiful portrayal of age combined with youth in a poignant moment of pampering by Shelley of her confused Grandmother. This young actress had excellent tonality and was engaging with her facial expressions and conveying of emotions.

Other performances of note were from the actor playing Jim/Young Jim who had  excellent stage presence and was a great storyteller. I do however wish that Wardrobe would have dressed him in an authentic Naval uniform instead of a synthetic shiny two piece which distracted from his commanding posture and physical presence.

There were a few production elements that I believe were distracting such as blue lighting and red lighting effects which I was unable to connect within the context of the script. The aforementioned stark stage left area was the setting of the Consultant’s room as the Doctor attempted to glean updates and evidence of their mother’s condition from the two daughters. When this space was no longer needed as the narrative opportunity to enlighten the audience as to what was happening, it was not utilised again and so could either have been struck or unlit as it was distracting. 

Speaking to the Director during the interval, he spoke of his own personal experience of this subject matter which mirrors the author of the play, Gail Young’s, own reason for tacking this difficult subject. This topic certainly challenged us as an audience, with regards to how we thought was the appropriate way to respond. Was it ok to laugh at what was going on? The context of the piece was telling us no, yet the comedy of both the writing and the responses from some of the characters were telling us yes. Due to some outstanding performances, dramatising the impact on families, we were able to be empathetically drawn in to this sensitively portrayed piece of naturalistic theatre and leave the theatre with both a smile on our face and an increased awareness of the difficulties of life when faced with this condition.

 

PLEASE NOTE:

Any observation made by the reviewer can only be based on what he sees at the performance in question.  The reviewer may have received information in advance of the performance and it is inevitable that his assessment will be effected by that knowledge.

The N.O.D.A. Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the overall production and in particular the performance viewed.  It should be remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the techniques used during the performance observed.  Any criticisms expressed may not have been valid at other performances, and are only made to encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre.

It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

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