Fighting Over Beverley

From the programme:

""Fighting over Beverley" started as a tribute to his [the writer] English wife who, (like Beverley), gave up a lot to move 3,000 miles to America. The play originally told the story in 3 acts, seeing the characters aged from 20, 40 and 70, but the third act was the only one that worked well as a romantic comedy and so the play was developed to expand Archie's visit to America with anecdotes about earlier times. The play has been performed both on radio and stage. We have decided to give you the best of both worlds (hopefully) performing as though in a radio studio, so you have to imagine the living room setting but the actors can focus on the words and emotions, with the added fun for you of watching the sound effects being created as they would be in a radio play."

I always enjoy a trip to The Playhouse in Northampton, I love the quaintness of the intimate theatre, and I like the welcome we always receive. Fighting over Beverley is a difficult one for me to review because of the way it was set. Being set as though in a recording studio meant that the actors had their scripts in front of them and sometimes, they relied quite heavily on this. I almost felt that I could have enjoyed listening to it as a radio play in the comfort of my living room, but not so much as live theatre.

These thoughts, however, do not detract from some of the talent that The Playhouse always draw in for their plays. Liz Allen as Beverley Schimma was emotive and had learned her part well. She interacted well with the others on stage and was a good choice for the part. 

Rik E. Dean played Archie Bennet - I believe the choice to produce the piece as a radio play was because Rik is much younger than the character he played. I don’t think this mattered though. Rik did a grand job of his characterising of Archie, being a stubborn Yorkshire man who is very much stuck in the past. With some creative make-up skill, I think he would have been just fine in the role if it were performed as a live play. 

Ben Knight played Zelly Schimma and although I usually enjoy Ben's performances, I felt he relied too much on his script for this. I got the feeling that he knew his lines, but because his script was in front of him, he felt like he had to read them. It must be very difficult talking in an American accent while someone next to you is using a Yorkshire accent, this meant that the accent slipped at times. 

Meryl Couper played Cecily Schimma, and she did a great job. Her accent was good, and she knew her lines without having to rely on the script too much. I enjoyed her character. 

Finally, we had Gavin Jones on sound effects, which were effective overall, and Jack Griffin as the Studio Presenter. I suspect this role was added in because of the way the piece was set, I thought it was unnecessary though.

Although I wasn't too enamoured by the setting of the play, it was a good evening of entertainment, I would have just preferred to seeing it set as a live play rather than a radio recording. My thanks to the Playhouse for their hospitality and I look forward to seeing them again soon. 

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.