The Father

“The Father” is a play by French Playwright by Florian Zeller.

This is a psychological dram depicting one old man’s struggle into old age. The play was directed by Alan Groucott , very successfully I must say.

As an audience we had to concentrate very hard . As the play progressed you were taken through different era’s of time from the early stages of what we now know as dementia. The actors must have found this a difficult play to undertake, having to deal with a relative who sometimes has no understanding of the world around them.

Mike Venables as ‘Andre’ the Father of the title, gave an outstanding performance which conveyed to us, the audience, his difficulty in understanding his daughters approach to his condition. He always believed that what he said is correct when his daughter is telling him the complete opposite.

Laura Cooney as ‘Anne’ portrayed a daughter at the end of her tether trying to cope with her father’s behaviour. You could feel yourself being in her shoes and feeling sorry for what she is having to deal with and how it would affect you if you were in the same position.

Lee Morgan-Salcombe as ‘Anne’s’ husband, ‘Pierre’, was not so understanding and at one point in the play you had the feeling that he was bullying the father, and I felt making matters worse which led to discourse within the family unit.

The three main characters were excellent at getting the message across re the problems of a family unit dealing with these issues. Full marks to them.

The supporting cast of Elizabeth Ormston as ‘Laura’, Ruth Cattell as ‘The Woman’ and Robert Woodhall as ‘The Man’ helped to give the play its credence. I felt that you had to concentrate on the different eras when you saw the same style costumes being used in the same colour well done to all for making me really get involved in the characters and the various settings/times. Very impressive.

Yet an excellent play is also dependant on the all the team, stage management, lighting, sound, set, wardrobe and the stage crew.  The lighting helped create the mood, the sound was clear and the clothes were pertinent to the period.

Personally, I came away very thoughtful about how conditions affect a family unit and made me think about how lucky we are

Thank you all

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