Enchanted April

Set in the period just after the First World War, Australian born Elizabeth von Armin's novel Enchanted April has been adapted for film and stage more than once since its publication in 1922.  This charming play revolves around the transformation of four very different women, who for similar reasons are at unhappy times in their lives.

It is lovely to see a play with good strong roles for women, and Enchanted April is just that – the male characters are mostly foils for the unfolding stories of the ladies. 

Lottie Wilton – beautifully played with naïve joyous innocence by Jodee Goodwin - sees a newspaper advertisement offering a month’s rental of an Italian castle including sunshine and wisteria.  It’s been continually raining in London and Lottie is feeling stifled, undervalued and oppressed by her ambitious and pompous solicitor husband Mellersh.  Played with relish and over the top humour by Daniel Curley, he showed the audience a little more of his body than I have ever seen before but the audience, mainly of women, obviously enjoyed it. 

Lottie summons up the courage to ask Rose Arnott (Leila Francis) to join her and escape to Italy.  Leila played the role straight-faced and sad at the beginning but blossomed in the warmth of the sun of Italy and it was a delightful portrayal, as we really felt her pain at the loss of her marriage and the happiness of the reuniting at the end of the play. Her lovely dress in the second half gave a powerful comparison with her dark somber clothes in the first half.

To fund their joint venture they advertise for two more companions. Mrs. Graves, an elderly abrupt autocratic, imperious lady without a sense of humor arrives. This was a plum role for the very talented Liz Curley who, even when she took a prompt, kept in character and demanded of the prompt ‘Carry On’ as if it was all meant to happen. Well done Liz. I really loved your characterisation and what a great role to do.

Lady Caroline, a troubled society beauty, brought mystery and harboured a tragic secret.  Shelley Goodwin gave us a languid upper class portrayal and looked totally at ease in the role. She also spoke Italian effortlessly to Constanza – well done!

The play dragged a bit in the first half as we had nine scenes before we saw the castle itself. It’s not till the ladies arrive there that we see the enchanted magical place as suggested by Lottie. I did find it a bit of a challenge to wait whilst the crew constantly changed round the four chairs and two tables to denote the different scenes against the backdrop of black curtains.  I could see why it was done, with having a small stage and to try to capture the dreariness of London.  However overall it did work, as the second half captured the warmth of Italy, with the bright painted backdrop, flowers and wisteria. The design received a round of applause from the audience. I just wonder if the director could have tried to set two scenes at a time, emphasized with lighting changes, so that the first half might have been slicker?

Good performances by Jeremy Bruce playing the rogue husband of Rose and Chris Rogerson as the owner of the castle, Anthony Wilder.  There were lovely costumes for everyone except Chris. Not sure that at that period in history Anthony would be wearing modern day shirt pulled out over the top of modern day trousers. Was he supposed to be wearing an artist’s smock?? If so then it needed to be longer.

Last but not least was the hilarious Italian housekeeper, Constanza.  Loud, shrieking and funny she kept her accent and her Italian language all the way throughout her time on stage.

Sounds were good but seemed to go off very abruptly and sometimes the lighting lacked coverage, particularly stage left.  It might have worked a little better if you had brought the lights down a tad more during the scene changes during the first half. Also some lightning would have been good during the storm in London.  A ten minute delay occurred prior to the opening of the first act; it would have been good if the audience had been informed of what was going on.

Enchanted April was an enjoyable evening out and was just right for a hot summer’s night.  Well done to everyone whose hard work and commitment made this a very pleasant way to spend a summer evening.

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