Men in Green

Concerns about the fate of humanity in the face of changes to the climate are rightly very much to the fore in the news these days, so the time seems right for a play that examines these issues.  Roger Goddard’s comedy Men in Green did so through the lens of the generation gap, with clear nods (as mentioned by the writer himself in the programme) to the classic TV comedy Till Death Do Us Part. 

Men in Green began with idealistic young couple Marie Pearson (Ellen Fearnley) and her boyfriend Stephen (Brad Hemming) planning a climate protest at their local supermarket.  Although this was not entirely successful – to put it mildly – they continued to escalate their protests, eventually getting involved with a more organised group known as the Greenbacks.  Trouble really started to brew when Stephen was accused of punching a policeman during a protest…

On the other side of the generational divide sat Marie’s parents, grumpy traditionalist Andrew (Miles Nicholls), staunchly disapproving of his daughters activities with her ‘layabout’ boyfriend, and Janette (Joy Williamson), prone to avoiding the issue altogether by changing the subject to more trivial matters.  Her behaviour neatly highlighted the propensity of some people to bury their head in the sand when confronted by major issues, which can be just as much a problem as Andrew’s more confrontational approach. 

Meanwhile, their neighbour Rita (Deb Macmillan) had embarked on a round of online dating, described in episodic fashion during her frequent, if rather brief, visits to Janette’s living room.  When Rita revealed that she was dating a policeman, you didn’t need to be Columbo to guess how the two plot strands would be joined together.  Sure enough, policeman John (Clive Webb) was soon knocking on the door, in search of Stephen. 

Eventually, Stephen was found hiding in the Pearson’s house (in a moment that elicited gasps from some in the audience!) and carted off to the Police Station.  But a change in Andrew’s attitude – seemingly caused by a neighbour cutting down a cherry tree – led to him seeing the light and marching into battle on behalf of his daughter’s boyfriend.  Harmony was therefore restored in the household, whilst Rita and John’s relationship seemed to have a second chance…

The cast did a good job of bringing their characters to life, each clearly showing their main attributes, from Marie’s idealism to Andrew’s Alf Garnett style reactionism.  There were some nicely delivered jokes, including a running gag about a Phillips screwdriver, and the first half ended with some physical comedy as Andrew accidentally demolished the IKEA type table he had been working on.  We also learnt a bit about climate change, as Stephen and Marie occasionally delivered some facts and figures.

Directed by writer Roger Goddard, the story was briskly told through a series of short, if a little repetitive, scenes, in which characters came and went from the Pearson’s living room.  The room itself was depicted via a very good set, well-constructed and featuring lots of good attention to detail.  One doesn’t see the traditional box set quite so much these days, and it was nice to see this so effectively used by the Norbury Players – well done to Brian Hooper and his set design/construction team.

Music was also used effectively to augment the action, with the strains of The Kinks’ ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ opening the show.  Each scene then finished with an appropriate stab of music – for example ‘Jailbreak’ as prison loomed for Stephen, and ‘What’s New Pussycat’ following a tigerish aside from Andrew.  It might have been nice if these pieces had continued throughout each scene change – as it was the music quickly reverted to the opening lines of ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ each time. 

Congratulations to all at the Norbury Players for presenting an interesting new play which provided plenty of food for thought amongst the comedy.  Who knows, perhaps a few in the audience might have been persuaded to become one of the Men in Green – sorry, I mean Greenbacks!

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