Wife After Death

The audience rocked with laughter at Grantham Arts Centre, where I attended the final and matinee performance of St Peter’s Hill Players. Wife After Death tells a story of Dave Thursby, national treasure and comedian when his funeral is taking place, and family, friends, and colleagues are due to pay their last respects. What changes will be made to these relationships after the revelations from members of the funeral congregation?  His wife, his agent and his best friend are all in for a shock.

First, we meet Jim Smee as Harvey, a dry, comical, rendition with excellent timing and his facial expressions were hilarious when needed.  His gentle energy, and his reaction to happenings onstage really described the personality he was portraying.  Jacqueline Dowse who played his wife Vi, was a calm, demure counterpoint to Harvey’s character.  Liz was assured, poised, and played Vi with wonderful comic timing and silent reactions in her virtuoso performance.  This pair demonstrated good chemistry with excellent characterisation of an endearing or perhaps enduring, married couple.  They set the pace in the first act, and I really felt the tension as they came to terms with saying goodbye to their friend and the social awkwardness of a funeral situation.

Kevin, Dave Thursby’s agent, played by Gus Sparrow and Kevin's wife, Jane played by Karen Willoughby, were a complicated couple.  The parts demanded subtle handling, and both did very well.  I particularly liked Kevins’s attitude to witnessing the body, his overreaction to finding out about his wife’s affair, and finally his hurt demeanour in the final stages of the play.  Karen was in contrast more still and poised.  She held the audience’s sympathies after the affair with Dave came apparent.  These days we may look at Dave as being a sexual predator, not caring who he hurt to satisfy his own goals.  Indeed, the characters discuss the whys and wherefores yet do not state that these women are victims of possible grooming with Harvey as an unwitting facilitator. Since the ‘me too’ campaign, are 2022 audiences happy to sit back and absorb these plot lines?  (Wife After Death was only written in 2011, set in the 1990’s, but I feel society is more aware of these issues now.)  Certainly, there was an audible intake of breath when Jane reveals what had happened and how unhappy she was about it. Both Gus and Karen offered believable performances which were sensitively played. I did note that Gus' makeup was heavily applied and Gus revealed he had dyed his hair for the role.  I felt this was over-worked and the look was at odds with his acting style, he looked almost clown-like. More subtlety was required.

Rachel Armitage played the late lamented Dave’s wife Laura.  Her ditsy posturing and over pretentious behaviour clearly showed through in the early parts of the play and her reactions to the comedy moments were brilliant.  I felt Rachel played Laura with gentleness and kindness which was a lovely attitude, especially apt, as at the end of the play she can console herself with a new friendship with Kay, Dave’s ex.  I think her costumes were appropriate and her body language as she interacted with the different guests at the funeral was excellent.

Kay was played with strength and brightness by Deborah Hart.  Her confident performance was a joy.  The stage lit up when she entered, and her presence was felt by the whole audience. She played the character’s reactions to the comic situations with ease, and she absorbed and redirected the reactions of the other characters with a clever wit and agile body language.  A very clever use of reaction and attitude, very well done.

I felt the set lacked a certain realness. I felt it could have done with a little more furniture, pictures, ornamentation or perhaps plants.  The painting of the back flats was patchy at best, and I felt this did not reflect the expensive taste of Laura. I felt the sofa and chairs were too far away for the actors to use the coffee table.  Perhaps a side table might have been placed near to the chair, or the direction should not have included putting drinks on it. The odd way actors had to stretch to place items looked awkward.  I also noticed when the actors opened the glass French doors, that they gripped the wooden frame instead of the handle, which meant that their hands would have passed through the pane of glass.   A minor error, but worth noting for future productions.  One final point, a lot of the acting happened behind the furniture.  You had a large space and could have chosen to use more of the front of the stage. I understand from Dawn Cadwallader (Director) that she allowed the actors to do their own blocking, which might have accounted for this.  But I felt as an audience member that the actors were hiding away at the back of the stage and not engaging as much with us as they could.  Did the actors feel more comfortable with a piece of furniture between them and the audience?  If this was an acting choice, what made you feel that standing behind furniture looked natural in a sitting room?  I just felt there was a lack of good direction overall, and a lack of pace in the second act.  I would have also liked the actors to have known their lines better.  Especially as this was their last performance.  The prompt (Briony Sparrow) was utilised quite a lot and this meant the flow was lost at times.

The Lincolnshire author of Wife After Death, Eric Chappell, sadly died before he got to see this performance by St Peter’s Hill Players.  A lovely celebration piece was included in the programme, and I understand many of his family came to see the Friday evening performance, which they very much enjoyed. The programme also included a sitcom quiz and information on local businesses and St Peter's Hill Players, excellent. 

Thank you for allowing me to chat to you all after the show, I had a lovely time, I enjoyed your performance and received a warm welcome from your front of house team and by Dawn. Thank you.

Jules Jones

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