Flowery Shirts & Strange Relations

Flowery Shirts & Strange Relations is a sequel to a NODA award winning play by the same playwright Margaret Graham.  The original play was called Miniskirts & Revelations.  Set in a 1960s guest house the main characters are the Greenfield family – three generations women; Grandma, Mother and teenage daughter Penny. The narrator takes us through the 1968 diaries of Penny.  From student protest to hippy fashion from widowed Mother with a secret life away from the guest from Grandma’s cooking to her run-ins with Mr Parker the health inspector the play moves with great speed through the lives and loves of the occupants of guest house.

The set was extremely well created – notable for its simplicity from the Marley tile flooring to the two side sets.  Particularly innovative was the lack of doors. This made the action move smoothly without any pauses to open or close doors.  The attention to detail for the set dressing was first class.  The sound cues were clear and accurate -   again great attention to detail.  It was delightful to see so many costumes that were so accurate for the period – from the white knee-high boots to Grandma’s slipper, from Mother’s blouse and skirt to her ‘housecoat’.

Whilst I would have loved to have seen the prequel, this play stands up very clearly in its own right.  The cast worked extremely well together and created the guesthouse atmosphere with each person’s role clearly defined and elaborated upon as the play progressed.  

Margaret Graham is to be congratulated on her interpretation of the highs and lows of the period which she so cleverly portrays in this play. The director Janine Robins brought out the best from each member of the cast moulding the new members in with those who appeared in “Miniskirts & Revelations” without a seam.  The evening was a delight from beginning to end with all aspects of the play being of a very high standard.  I look forward to visiting Ifield Barn Theatre in the near future.

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