Shadowlands

It is so lovely to welcome a new society to NODA East District 8, I was really looking forward to seeing this talented group and their latest production – Shadowlands by William Nicholson.   With over sixty years of history this group provides a drama group, a youth group and a pantomime all with a good audience following.

Shadowlands is a beautiful love story which narrates the personal life of C S Lewis; it tells of a shy man whose Christian faith is severely tested by the premature death of a woman he has slowly learned to love.

Set in the 1950’s; Lewis (John Holmes) first meets Joy Gresham (Heidi Hamber) when she writes a letter to him stating how much she admires his work. They continue to write and finally meet in Oxford. After returning to the States she finds that her husband has had an affair and is after a divorce. She returns to Oxford after her divorce to start afresh with her young son Douglas.   The two of them strike up a very unlikely friendship with Lewis which leads to marriage. Their life together is tragically torn apart by her illnesses and subsequent death

Debut Director, Andy Perrin, had really made use of the historical information regarding this novelist and all the cast were completely believable in their roles. The hard work from everyone had obviously paid off as this wordy play really depends on the strength of the acting to keep the audience entertained.  Unfortunately there were a few people in the audience tonight who, during the huge opening monologue heckled the male lead.  However John Holmes who played C S Lewis (Jack) was such an experienced actor that he carried on without faltering showing the standard of acting that he gave.  It seems a shame that some audiences seem to think it funny to shout out, when it is definitely wrong to do so and for any actor this can be a nightmare scenario, so hands down to John on his accomplished acting.

John is simply outstanding as Jack and his transformation from a stiff, upper class, bookish, emotionally shy, middle age man to a warm loving husband for Joy, was a delight to watch. Indeed it was hard to remember that I was not watching a professional actor here rather than an amateur one, as he was so incredibly believable in the part. Huge congratulations to John for his excellent work on this role.

Ron Stobart as Major W J Lewis (Warnie) was totally at ease with his brother Jack and the two of them felt to me very comfortable together on the stage. There was an effortless simplicity between them, as if they had been living together for years. The work they must have put in to build this relationship during rehearsals was excellent.

Joy Gresham (Heidi Hamber) was totally believable as the flamboyant Joy and held her New York accent throughout. This role is a hard one as she has to be quite abrasive to alienate Jack’s academic friends but show sufficient warmth and affection to gain the heart of the man she had grown to love.  Her deterioration due to her illness in the second half was beautiful to watch and her death scene was very poignant. This was excellent work from Heidi who gave us a very confident and eloquent performance. Her young son Douglas (James Hale) kept his New York accent and gave an assured portrayal on stage.

Supporting roles were also excellent.  Professor Christopher Riley (Andy Millward) as Jack’s chauvinist friend had some superb sarcastic lines between Joy and himself which she parried back with intelligent witty eloquence.

The Reverend Harry Harrington (John Elliott) And Doctor Alice Gregg (Jill Hinds) acted well together and were true to their characters; the cameo roles from the rest of the cast were all exceedingly well done.

There was great projection from all the cast in most cases although sometimes a couple of the cast, when talking upstage lost a little clarity. This was first night so I am sure that this will change as the show progresses.

The split set was well constructed with stage right being a blank room used for various places including a committee room, tea room, Joy’s new home and the hospital ward. The stage left side was Jack and Warnie’s home. It was filled with wonderful old filled book cases, old chair and sofa amongst other props. The room had a great feel of time standing still about it.

Kelvedon players gave us a great set although I would have liked maybe slightly less bright lighting in the stage left section. The atmospheric lighting at the end in the last scene in Jack’s living room was terrific.  Also the wardrobe in the middle of the back of the stage was ingenious with its magical opening, closing and the lighting of the tree at the back. Clever use of this staging meant that we did not have to wait for each scene to be changed, the crew were extremely quick in bringing on or taking off pieces of furniture which made it seem almost seamless.  The choice of music was beautiful and I believe taken from the film.

Costumes were correct for the time period and a nice touch with the hats for Joy although I don’t think a lady who was staying in the house would be wearing a hat at a dinner party but would do if going out to dine??

This impressive production was a joy to watch and I have no doubt there were a few tears at the end from members of the audience. A great deal of hard work by Andy and his team showed us what a good production you can have if you do your homework. Congratulations to everyone involved in this show and I hope the second week goes as well.

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