Full Circle

The Phoenix Theatre Company’s latest production was the clever Janet Shaw comedy drama, that explores family issues. Dee and Millie do not speak to each other, nonetheless they tolerate each other as their granddaughter Nicola is soon to be married. It explores a family’s current relationship problems that have resulted from a single decision taken forty-four years earlier. As the wedding plans begin to unravel a friend and neighbour starts to delve into the skeletons in the cupboard and what happened forty years ago also begins to unravel.

There is also tension between Nicola’s mum and dad Linda and Brian; mum is organising the wedding with military precision and Brian feels he just needs to ‘shut up, pay up and turn up’. During the tension Lori Weber and Phil Field worked well together and from the play’s first line produced some very funny moments which set the tone and excellent pace throughout. Brian and Linda are fed up with the sarcastic display between Dee (Brian’s mother) and Millie (Linda’s mother) – they more than hate each other, (because even hating would mean there was some feeling towards each other), and  Stephanie Piggott and Melanie Bailey provided some well-acted exchanges throughout, especially when the real truth comes out in the end.

The bride to be Nicola, was well played by Mia Field who spoke well particularly in an exchange with her dad Brian which made him admit he had underestimated her. Meanwhile we meet a friendly neighbour Wills played superbly by Will Shaw, a flamboyant over the top character whose real name was Malcolm, but wanted to call him- self Wills as he admired the late Princess Diana so much! Wills was set the task of getting to the bottom of the issue between Dee and Millie, which appeared to be centred around one man called Jack. Millie had not seen her husband Graham for quite some time and then ‘he’ suddenly reappears as a woman called Gloria, played convincing by Suzanne Hill.

If we felt nothing else could go wrong, many of the wedding arrangements were ruined; the wedding Bentley was double booked, the golf club was flooded and the food ruined, the musicians had fallen ill and the church was leaking because the lead had been pinched off the roof! At one point everyone on stage was talking into their mobile phones at the same time and this was very well handled. Eventually Brian saves the day, with some clever thinking.

There were more twists and turns as skeletons tumbled out of the cupboard both funny and poignant, but I won’t spoil it for those unfamiliar with the play. In addition, the set (Brian and Linda’s sitting room) was impressively detailed and the musical background between scenes of ‘That’s Life’ was most appropriate. This was an excellent production in the capable hands of  double act, Director Renee Field and Co-Director Lynne Casey.

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