When We Are Married

Ruby Birtle, the maid, is my favourite character in When We Are Married.  Most of the older roles come with a lifetime of baggage, but everything seems new to Ruby, and Harriet Gandy played her with a wide-eyed open mouthed naivety that was a joy to watch.  I’ve seen Mrs Northrop, the housekeeper, played with an exaggeratedly drunken totter.  Norma York was much more physically restrained, but her asides on leaving the room were perfectly pitched comedy.  The plate smashing routine also went very well - this takes place in the upstage corridor with the launch of the plate visible to the audience and the result confirmed in sound.  I don’t know whether this was a recording or a backstage Foley artist, but it was timed to perfection, and the set did its job of hiding the subterfuge.  The visible part of the set realised the Helliwells’ drawing room in a grand fashion, with formal wallpaper above wooden panelling.  The era was also captured well by the costumes.

Paul Revell’s portrayal of Joe Helliwell actually put me in mind of a former Hampshire county councillor’ Caroline Hall played his wife with a quiet dignity.  It’s very hard to like the character of Albert Parker (Eric Petterson).  Priestly wrote his part as a pompous windbag who is devoid of self-awareness.  On the other hand, that builds up the audience’s sympathy for his wife, Annie, whom Juliet Surridge played with an entirely believable mixture of the down-to-earth and the wistful.  Rachel O’Neill caught the fierce acidity of the shrewish Clara Soppitt, but was very credibly cowed when finally called out by her patient, quiet husband Herbert (Stephen Percy).

I’m always amazed that the play has a cast of 14 - not something many professional companies would commission these days - but the smaller roles add comedy and variety and keep the plot moving whilst allowing the roles of the three central couples to develop.  This was an entertaining production of one of the staples of British theatre.

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