Entertaining Angels

It’s always an exciting moment to enter the auditorium at the Corn Exchange Theatre to see what the set design and construction team have conjured up for the latest presentation.  The set for this production of “Entertaining Angels” did not disappoint.  The fact that the drama takes place entirely in or near a vicarage garden meant that an astonishing amount of attention had been lavished on this one setting.  Plants and flowers thrived wherever you looked.  Ferns and ornamental grasses proliferated in shady spots, while bulrushes stood proudly by the stream.  The carefully manicured lawn was evidently artificial, but it was given life and texture by the gobos in the lighting plot.  The patio was persuasively coloured and textured, and dressed with contemporary outdoor furniture; the strong, directional light bathing the rear of the vicarage made this garden appear a genuinely pleasant place to sit out.  Birds sang in the trees.  The audience sank contentedly into their seats.  What could possibly disturb this rural idyll in middle England?

The characters, when first introduced, seem almost as safe and tranquil as the setting.  Grace is mourning the loss of her husband Bardolph, the local vicar, and is also having to move out of the vicarage in favour of the new incumbent.  Grace’s sister Ruth has returned from Africa to help out, and Grace’s daughter Jo would appear to live locally.  Sarah, the new vicar, pops by to sort out a few things.  There doesn’t appear to be much jeopardy here … but just who is that pottering around in the greenhouse?

It is, of course, the spirit of Grace’s recently departed husband.  Grace interacts with him as if he is really there, which in her mind he is; the others ignore him entirely, although they note Grace’s propensity to talk to herself in the greenhouse.  Thus Bardolph’s supernatural presence is simply and effectively represented – just one example of the sure touch and clear vision that the director brought to her staging of this piece – and Bardolph’s spirit infuses the drama as deep secrets are revealed and family ties are strained.  The themes of love and loss, grief and regret, and communication and forgiveness are explored in close and sometimes painful detail, but there is humour here too, particularly around the politics of the Church of England.

The narrative is driven by the trickle of revelations about the protagonists’ pasts rather than by the onstage action, so the continuous and sensitive development of character is key.  The ensemble of five experienced actors rose splendidly to the challenge: they knew their parts well and truly inhabited their roles.  The play is quite a rollercoaster of emotion, and as tensions are ratcheted up it would have been very easy for the whole thing to have become so overwrought that it lurched into melodrama.  The skill of the actors ensured that this didn’t happen thanks to the characters’ reserve and self-discipline – they had been buttoned up for so long that they weren’t about to let all their emotions come tumbling out now.  Thus the pressure built, and the occasional moments when everything became too much and the characters broke down in upset or grief were all the more powerful as a result.

This was a very well executed and beautifully staged ensemble piece.  The accomplished cast brought their roles to life, and provided the audience with plenty of food for thought.  Just like Jo’s assessment of Grace’s personality, the play might reasonably be described as “difficult”, but the Sinodun Players explored the drama’s challenging and diverse themes with insight, sensitivity and no little humour.

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.