Red Peppers & Still Life

@2k are taking the bull by the horns with this touring malarkey by taking out yet another exciting piece to the rural masses. Sadly, the snow did scupper the early part of the tour but not to be deterred they packed up the van and took rural Somerset into the world of Noel Coward in the mid 30’s. The two plays are usually performed as double or triple bills and in this case a double with a musical introduction by Mr Coward and his co-star Gertrude Lawrence was the offering. The musical opening which also included monologues set the flavour and was nicely received by the audience. Recorded music was used but ideally a piano would have created a more period feel but taking a piano out on the road would be near on impossible, so the next best thing had to do, at moments there was a slight hiatus in timing but this was covered well.

Red Peppers

Staging of this piece was both on and off stage in a provincial music hall; the staging was simple but set the scene clearly and with functional props. Scene changes were incorporated into the action and this worked well. The two main characters Lily and George were comfortably married to each other and their overly seasoned act and there were some really funny moments. A swifter delivery and pace would have assisted the comedy as the style was written to be fast and slick and there was a slower pace and an uncertainty at times which lost the impact of the comedy. The additional characters moved the piece along and Mr Edwards gave the couple someone to bounce off and the sequences with the three of them worked well.

Still Life

During the interval the set was changed to create the tea room of a provincial railway, the attention to detail was perfect and how this fits in to a van I wouldn’t like to image. ‘Brief Encounter’ the classic black and white movie was adapted by Coward from this play and the gentle romances played out are beautifully drawn. Myrtle and Albert’s saucy rapport brought gentle comedy to the romance of a midlife couple. Myrtles attempt to be a little classier with her plum in mouth accent that came and went as the mood took her was amusing and visually she captured her character beautifully. Albert obviously was totally besotted and his character was nicely drawn. Stanley and Beryl’s teenage flirtation worked very well and contrasted well to the other romances. Laura and Alec the main focus of the piece showed real depth of understanding to these characters. It is to be noted that Alison who played Laura was a late addition to the cast and her experience and stage craft was second to none and no one would have known. Much of the Laura and Alec’s conversations happened over a cup of tea sat at a table for two. It isn’t easy to keep the audience’s attention through the simplest of Cowards dialogue and through the moments of discomfort and farewells’; but these two kept us totally absorbed as our hearts also broke as they said their final goodbyes, timing was perfect. David obviously enjoyed creating this piece as his direction was thoughtful and emotionally handled.

It is lovely to see a group thinking about their audience and the communities to whom they bring their work and this offering was received with pleasure by the audience at Bishops Lydeard and that is what it is all about …well done @2K.

 

 

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