It is both an irony and delight that the Union Theatre, which derives so much strength from its ‘under the arches’ location, should prove so adept at staging a play that takes place entirely outdoors. Alan Ayckbourn’s 1982 comedy explores the fortunes of a group of people who come into contact with Richard and Anthea, a couple who seem blessed with continuous good luck. They both effortlessly ooze charisma, their business decisions always prove profitable, and they even enjoy unburdening others of their own workloads. Generous to a fault, their more ‘average’ friends enjoy their hospitality, while also growing increasingly resentful of their success.
The various scenes take place in Richard and Anthea’s garden at four year intervals, so that the entire play covers the period 1970 to 1982. Holly Best’s set is highly atmospheric as a blue sky, clouds and trees are painted on the venue’s genuine brick wall, and upturned wheelbarrows, footballs and pots of geraniums lie all around. A fence then obscures the tennis courts from which we hear the shouts of the games, as well as the fireworks on bonfire night. Kingsley Hall’s costumes are equally intelligent, capturing the specific year being portrayed in the scene rather than just a general sense of the 1970s.
Although many of the cast give very good performances, they do vary in quality. Andrew Obeney is particularly strong as Sven, Richard’s business partner who grows sicker the more he is sidelined. His final speech in which he wishes Richard’s daughter well by revealing his own sense of inadequacy contributes to an exceptionally funny scene, in which every character plays their part. The atmosphere, however, is not sustained and the play’s final lines fail to capture the tragedy of the entire situation. The scene in which the minister (Jamie Richards) declares his love for Anthea (Claire Marlowe) during a tennis match amidst cries of ‘fifteen love’ is well timed, but others are less successfully executed, falling flat. A number of Ayckbourn’s lines, which have clearly been written to get the audience rolling about with laughter, raise little more than a chortle – and this is a recurring problem throughout Ben De Wynter’s production, this failure to fully take flight.
Still, Jamie Kenna provides a convincing portrayal of the affable Richard, and Monica Bertei is entertaining as the neurotic or ecstatic (depending on her medication at the time) minister’s wife. And the scene in which Sven discovers that Richard deliberately threw the tennis match captures Ayckbourn’s humour perfectly, revealing as much as anything how a perfectly timed utterance of the simple word ‘twit’ can genuinely bring the house down.
