Third Week in August

The ‘Third Week in August’ is a play by Peter Gordon. It is a comedy set in the present day on a very typical caravan site. It leads you on a journey, examining the difficulties and turbulence that can be found in many people's lives. The characters portrayed in the play appear on the surface, to have quite ordinary lives but as the play progresses and the layers start to be revealed and we see how dysfunctional they all really are.

The play opens very innocently with Sue, confidently performed with great presence by Jo Sykes. She was lost in her thoughts with the radio playing, looking for peace and tranquillity and trying very hard to write her latest book. Very soon she is joined by the neighbours, husband and wife combination, Neville and Mary. Neville, played splendidly by Stuart Marshall, is a person who lives by the rules, quoting regulations at the mere hint of rule breaking and Stuart gave us a rock solid, well balanced and believable portrayal of this boring character. The role of Mary was played by the society Chairperson and was perfectly cast with Irene De Tute. She gave us a totally convincing characterisation of his interfering, bossy wife. I shook at her shouts of ‘NEVILLE’ from off stage. She is constantly gossiping about her sister who had, to her disdain, split from her husband. Having been to the same camp site on the same dates, “Third Week in August”, for the past twenty something years, Mary and Neville still can't agree on exactly how many years, they decided this time to take their sister Liz with them. Holly Greco was excellent in the role of Liz, clearly showing her frustrations, especially at Mary, interfering and trying to direct her life. The turn of character and actually turning into a real bunny boiler at the end was brilliant.

 A fabulous performance from Gareth Wilby as the happy go lucky Tony, the laid back boyfriend of Jenny played by Katy Ryan. Tony always seemed to be in the right place just sometimes not at the right time as his character gets caught up in many situations, from being accused of having a fling with Sue to a potential suicide of Liz. Tony had one of my stand out lines with “I’d rather be at home driving nails through my feet” and Gareth delivered it perfectly. Tony and Neville flying the kite was very believable and sold the scene well. Katy gave us a confident portrayal of the spoilt, snobbish sun-worshipper Jenny with the sarcastic, sometimes vicious tongue. I chuckled at Katy's choice of reading material, perfect and fitting for her character. 

The stage setting was first class. The actors could enter and exit from the caravan doors and awnings which added to the immersion. One huge highlight for me was the BBQ which smoked and glowed as Neville tried and eventually got it lit. All of the set props and costumes were exactly what you would expect for the time and place and enhanced the great acting on stage. Another highlight for me was the sound and lighting. It really was first rate. There was never a moment where the dialogue wasn’t clear and not a single microphone pop was heard, a rare occurrence these days. Lighting was also excellent and I loved the extra simple touches like a moon projected on the back cloth to enhance the scene.   

Joe Greco’s direction of this comedy was top drawer and he gave the audience a very tight and polished production that he and the society can be proud of. It always had the right pace and the set changes were never distracting and the use of space was perfect.

There really was so much to admire in this production and to meet the society who were incredibly friendly and welcoming. Even the little touches like the quips in the programme made an impact.

Thank you St Austin’s for a thoroughly entertaining evening and I look forward to visiting in the future. 

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