Time of My Life

Time of My Life by Alan Ayckbourn is a time shifting tragic comedy situational set in a Mediterranean restaurant in a northern town, the main event being a family meal to celebrate Laura’s 54th birthday. Joining Laura and her husband Gerry are their two sons: Glyn, the elder son, who is accompanied by his wife Stephanie and Adam who has brought along his new girlfriend, Maureen.

The play is beautifully crafted and as the scenes change the audience are transported forwards and backwards in time, each time becoming more aware of the dysfunctionality of the Stratton family.

I found the staging of this production most interesting with the main birthday table being positioned on a raised platform at the back of the stage, whilst two smaller tables had been set on either side at the front of the stage. This created an interesting effect as I found myself slightly restricted in seeing some of the action upstage, but it did give me the feeling that I was eavesdropping in on the family from another table within the restaurant.

Attention to detail with properties in this production was well managed everything appeared to have been thought about, crumpled and used paper napkins upon the table, paper from presents that had already been opened, fake flowers growing up a wooden trellis, the correct labels on bottles, art work fit for any local restaurant from the 1990s and of course the food.

Laura played by Debra Watson gave a matriarchal performance as she manipulated her family and we found more about her unlikeable and hypocritical character. Malcolm Lord as her weak but amiable leisure centre building tycoon husband, was just terrific and played the role with considerable ease. Nick Chesters as Glyn, gave another very comfortable and very believable performance to watch, well matched to his wallflower wife Stephanie played by Francesca Fox. I found her character great to watch especially sitting so close to the acting area, her inner turmoil and frustrations bubbling to the surface but being suppressed into a slight facial expression or a slight shift in body language.

The mismatched character couple of Adam (Jake Baker) and Maureen (Sian Wadey) were a great combination. I found myself not liking Marueen at the start of the play but how wrong I was as her story unfolded. Sian’s straight laced and frank delivery of lines meant that they landed perfectly and a great contrast to her apologetic and hopelessly romantic boyfriend.

Well done to Stage Manager (Andy Turner) for stepping into the roles of Calvini, Tuto, Aggi, Dinki and Bengie (the fiver waiters). Juggling a multitude of properties, a script, putting on an accent, multiple costume changes meant that Andy provided the glue to hold the evenings events together, ensuring the show could go on. I hope that John Kinsey makes a full and speedy recovery, as he was unable to perform.

I really enjoyed the journey that this production took me on and there was real sense of believability to the more intimate scenes. The pace of dialogue was good for such a long play and kept my interest throughout.

Well done to Director Liz Franks and her cast in bringing these complex relationships to life on stage.

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