When We Are Married

I suppose I am really a musical man at heart but I do enjoy a good play and here we had one of the classics J. B. Priestley’s When We Are Married and Phoenix Players certainly did it proud.

There are some strong characters in this piece and each one had a good actor to portray them. As we know this play revolves around three couples who are celebrating their Silver wedding Anniversary only to find there is doubt as to whether they are actually married at all.

There were some fantastic performances from the three couples who as well as delivering the dramatic lines were also able to get some excellent comedic scenes as well. Frank Bardsley  and Gloria Elford-Box as Alderman Joseph and Mrs Maria Helliwell were superb as was Mark Kilburn-Stones and Elaine Veal as Cllr. Albert and Mrs. Annie Parker. Mark was able to deliver a very domineering husband and community stalwart, never allowing this to slip. In the case of Herbert and Clara Soppitt, however, it was a very different case; Sue Briggs was every bit the domineering partner in this relationship always letting her husband played by Mark Hague exactly what he should be thinking.

As the story opened we saw the maid of the Helliwell household, Ruby Birtle played to perfection by Jill Connell who welcomed her boyfriend, Gerald Forbes played extremely well by Greg Muscroft.

As with most affluent homes in this era The Helliwell's have a housekeeper although here you would question who was the employer and who the employee. The housekeeper, Mrs Northrop, as played superbly by Julie Webb and was always ready with an answer no matter what the question was or who asked it.

Completing the line up for this play was Susan Hirst as Nancy Holmes, Brandon Mullins making his debut with Phoenix and certainly making his mark as Fred Dyson. Barry Judd was a very convincing drunk, Henry Ormanroyd, looking and acting every bit the “lady of the night” Gaynor Robinson as Lottie Grady and David Doyle as a very holy Rev. Clement Mercer.

The action of this play normally takes place in the front parlour of the Helliwell’s home but in a bid to bring this a little more up to date Neil Mather decided to take it outside and into their garden, something which I have to say worked extremely well.

Many congratulations to Neil and everyone involved in this excellent evening’s entertainment.

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