Quartet

From the moment that I walked into the theatre I knew that we were in for a treat. There was a suitable selection of classical and light classical music playing and the stage was set depicting a typical residents’ lounge in a retirement home. The set and décor had been well thought out enabling the audience to immerse themselves in the action. The characterisations of the residents had been well thought out and were maintained throughout the performance. The pace was excellent with appropriate pauses associated with some of the problems of advancing age. Well done for that.

There were times when actions spoke louder than words and a good example of this was when Cecily (Cissie) Robson (Maureen George) had her headphones on listening to music and her facial expressions and body language depicted, perfectly, how engrossed she was in the music. I also thought that she perfectly portrayed someone who was very forgetful and was desperately trying to remember simple things such as messages. It would have been so easy to turn this into a caricature, but she ensured that it all remained true to life. Ian Davies, as Reginald Paget, gave us an insight of a person who was quite introverted and was in the home wanting a quiet life. He had been mentally scarred many years ago and did not want to face up to the reasons. This could be difficult to portray but Ian created a very believable person who came to life when he was given the responsibility of organising the quartet of singers to perform in a concert. Wilfred Bond (Mike Franklin) was totally opposite to this. He was brash and extroverted. He saw himself as a flirt and took every opportunity to talk about his conquests. Despite this he and Reginald were supportive of each other. The whole dynamic was upset by the arrival of a new resident, Jean Horton (Mandy Davies). She had once been married to Reginald and he was not at all pleased to see her. Cissie was delighted to be reunited with Jean, but the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. Wilfred was much too coarse for her tastes. All of this was against the background of a re-issue of a recording they had made many years previously. Jean then took us through the sad story of why she had no choice but to be in the home culminating in the fact that she was unable to sing. Mandy portrayed this journey perfectly taking us from resentment of her predicament to accepting her lot and becoming part of the quartet. The resolution to overcome the problem of performing their famous song was very well depicted. More humour was injected by Dickie Bannister – Lowe as Bobby Swanson one of the retired musicians resident in the home. I must congratulate all the performers and their miming to the professional recording.

Well done to everyone involved and thank you for a splendid evening’s entertainment!

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