The Weekend

The action takes place over a 48-hour period in the home of Steven and Virginia Febble. With the revelation of an impending visit from his daughter, his dreary son-in-law, a precocious granddaughter and an incontinent dog, Stephen is not best pleased with his weekend being taken over. He would much rather a weekend spent in front of the Tv with a large drink and his daily Telegraph. His very patient and long suffering wife Virginia has others plans. A lush dinner party for the family and neighbours, brings an array of colourful characters, Stephen’s good friend Duff and his wife along with her smooth-talking chiropodist, all of this bringing Stephen to the edge of his nerves. The climax comes when Stephen is forced to look at himself and face his own demons. A real slice of family life which is funny but very sad at times.

Overall, this production was well delivered by the cast. The script, is sufficient in that it provides two very solid characters in Stephen and Virginia, who both have a good growth pattern as the play moves along, however, the development of the supporting characters is less supported in this script. Their main purpose is to add to the colour of the play, add to Stephen’s frustration. The script gives us some glorious moments of comedy. The winner being the dog mess on perfectly laid dining table, this was very popular with the audience.

Once the curtains were opened there was a very good set waiting for us, a beautiful design providing, a dining room as the main space which was nicely decorated and had double doors to the off-stage garden, an arched hall area, and an off- stage kitchen area which had a well- used serving hatch. This set worked very well and gave us an indication that the family were  in a comfortable living situation. The only thing if I am to nit-pick would be the arm chair the stage right (looking on to the stage), I wondered what the purpose of this was as it was never used and never lit.   

The sound was well managed in this production and I really appreciated being able to hear dialogue that was delivered off- stage moments. Diction was good and lines were delivered well. There were occasions where some lines got muddled and we couldn’t quite understand what was said. Lighting on the most part was sufficient and we could see everyone. There were occasions when ques were slow, slow to come up in a scene and slow to go down at the end of scenes. At times, a scene started in an orange light and this increased to full lights during the scene or the hall light changed colour, got brighter or duller. We had glimpses of some colour lights at times and I wasn’t sure that this was within the director’s plot or not (the purple lights towards the end of a scene in act two). The downward spots worked well for the freeze moments.

Chris Mann- played a confident role with about 70 % of the dialogue in this production. It is a meaty role with broad comedy and rare moments of softness.  His character, doesn’t like anyone, is not an animal lover and would rather immigrate than spend time with his daughter and granddaughter. Chris gave a good interpretation of this character, great levels of frustration, arrogance, intolerance came across well. The relationships were expressed well and we could really see that he felt betrayed by his friend Huff, when he hadn’t informed him of the plans for a new road in the village. More upsetting was lack of interest to have any kind of a relationship with his granddaughter.

A character that can’t manage to do even the smallest task of answering the phone or making a cup of tea, however, can fill his brandy glass again and again drinking his way throughout the entirety of the show displaying him as a selfish and lazy man. A real tipping point moment for this character is the moment he feels jealousy due to the on-going flirting between the smooth-talking Hugh Bedales, his attention towards Stephen’s wife Virginia really hit a nerve with Stephen. Chris Mann handled the comedy very well as you would expect from someone with his experience and he had a lovely empathy towards the end. I would have liked to see a bit more rage in the scenes that required it to offset the lovely softer moments he had. All round good performance of a difficult role.

Karen Wood, as the very patient wife Virginia, play an excellent role. One could really empatise with her and she really let us go on a journey with her. Her facial expressions were spot on and her role came across very raw and real, I  enjoyed her interpretation.  This character is really reaching out for love and the feeling of being needed, both not offered by her husband. A mild tempered character throughout and manages her husband very well, one would wonder how she has stayed in the relationship for so long. A juggling act to keep everyone happy during the weekend. Her relationship with Stephen is almost one of convenience and the coldness in the relationship is evident. We can see a definite change once her daughter and granddaughter arrive. Her biggest worry being that her family will stop visiting and she will lose them. She is at heart a lonely soul. Her strength is obvious in act two when she finally reaches her boiling point, she tells her husband a few home truths about the relationship. Job well done.

Daniel Wood, what a funny character which was played well. Equipped with a good accent to keep us interested and allowed the comedic value of his boring tales (road numbers, statistics and tv programmes), to come across. He possessed all the values you would expect from a boring annoyance of a son-in-law.

Jen Brassington played a nice part as the daughter Diana or Di as frequently referred to in this production. A fine actress who made more of her supporting role. I enjoyed the urgency she captured within her own small family along with the on-going problem with the dog Betty. Her relationship with her mother was warm and natural and equally evident was the disjointed one with her father. This could be seen in her final scene when she is bidding farewell to her parents, a very warm hug to her mum and a brief peck on the check for her dad. This was quite saddening and a sobering moment for the audience.

Supporting roles were executed well, with the occasional slipping of lines. A colourful bunch around the dining table indeed. Cheryll Topham gave great energy to the character of Bridget, wonderful que timing and really made the most of this role. She played it for all it was worth and allowed us to understand the relationship with her husband and her obvious lust for Hugh Bedales. Good choice by the director to have Bridget sat with Hugh on the couch at the dinner party whilst her husband Duff sat on a single armchair looking on. Emily Brassington made a good impact as the teenage daughter of Diana and Alan, typical of her age she was outfitted to suit her portrayal. Strong willed and not afraid to stand her ground, she came across as a well-educated young lady, one that a grandfather should be proud of. A girl so young she, certainly did herself proud. Simon Hoffman played the role of Hugh Bedales well. His love of women and feet was delivered to us with his eloquent dialogue and flirtatious nature throughout his scenes. Mrs Finlay, a small role delivered well. I am unsure which character has missed their lines in her first scenes as some of the adlib didn’t make sense to me, nevertheless, they found their place again and got back on track. Reg Tolladay played a laidback chap, who in the words of his character Duff was happy in his home life completely unaware that his wife is having an affair. A good performance from a man of great stage experience. He was very relaxed throughout and helped in the ever-increasing infuriation of Stephen.

The direction was thought out and characters were cast well. A good deal of business allowed this to be interesting to us an helped us relate it to our own family. The pace in places could be improved upon. A good piece of work by this director. Well done.

On reflection of this performance, an audience is left with many questions. The theme each character visits resonates with us, we can all say we know people going through some of same situations, failing relationships, a feeling of loneliness, vulnerability and failed careers. This play gives us a sharp look at family life embedded with comedy and undertones of sadness which eventually becomes the predominate theme.

I felt that a few more line running sessions may have allowed everyone on stage to look confident, and really knowing where the story is going if you are going to adlib, try make it relevant.

Best wishes for the next production.

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