September in the Rain

September in the Rain

Carlton Players

1/2/23

John Godber takes us to Blackpool with Jack and Liz in the poignant comedy drama "September in The Rain". John Godber’s based the story on his own grandparents, who told him at length of their life, over and over again.

They spent their honeymoon there at a posh hotel; not to mention every other holiday throughout their married life. September in the Rain is a snapshot of a lost working-class way of life, with something a little darker below the surface. The play follows the life and holidays of Liz (Sallyanne Nelson) and Jack (Gareth Crawshaw).

Jack is a miner down the pits in Yorkshire, Liz his long-suffering wife. The pits close for a week in September, so every year they holiday in Blackpool in a cheap, grubby, backstreet guesthouse, September being an ideal month for a week in Blackpool! The play tells their story, from the present and the past. We see them on their holidays and hear them narrate their tales, of the characters they encounter along the rocky road.

We see Jack, jealous when Liz teases him about a handsome waiter, and Jack blaming Liz when he reverses the car into a truck while stuck in traffic… Liz threatening to leave Jack halfway through a holiday, then trying to talk him into seeing the view from the top of Blackpool Tower during a furious gale.
At the start we see them trundling over to Blackpool in their new and oh-so-expensive Ford Popular, then hear how over the years the cars and the roads change from twisting turning B-roads to motorways, until by the end they’re OAPs walking to catch the Wallace Arnold coach home.

Although there’s an underlying love, never expressed and lacking any modern concept of romance, we see their relationship as it is. Both are straight-talking Yorkshire folk who know their minds, they know what they want and how things should be done. They never agree on anything. Instead, they argue, split up and sulk, but over the years, through the tears and the rain, we see them laugh, sing and dance - you’ll laugh with them, cry with them, and maybe even give a wry smile when you recognise a little bit of us in them.

September in the Rain is an intimate play performed by two talented actors, with a very simple setting, projected backdrop cleverly depicting the locations and events which sensitively set the scene. The play will undoubtedly evoke nostalgic memories of our own holidays by the sea and the yarns we heard again and again from our parents and grandparents. No one shows us the humour in ordinary people better than Godber.

This is a well-directed production, David Tolcher and his team did a great job. Thank you, Carlton Players, for a very entertaining evening.

Joanne Rymer

NODA

District 4

 

 

 

 

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