Joking apart - Union theatre

Date seen:  Friday January 13th

Venue Union Theatre, London - Extraordinary little venue set under a railway arch. A small cafe is set in front of the dooe which sits a handful of people but sells coffee at a more than reasonable price. A small bar is just inside the entrance. The theatre seemed to sit about 50 people and it was sold out with folk awaiting returns. The set is right in front of you, a feature that I love! The thunder of trains can often be heard but this just added to the character.

Set: Excellent, considering the lack of space. The tennis court was well depicted and the garden was functional without being spectacular.

Costumes: Very good. The tennis shorts were almost embarrassingly short put perfect for the period. Sven & Olive's Christmas jumpers were the pick of the bunch.

Plot: The play takes place over a 12-year period in the back garden of near-perfect couple Richard and Anthea, whose circle of friends includes a smug Scandinavian couple, a crisis-stricken Vicar and his neurotic wife, a neglected girlfriend and an aging lothario.

Performances:  

Richard (Jamie Kenna) Nicely judged performance. Solid, consistently cheerful and yet obviously in control of everything around him.

Anthea (Claire Marlowe) Sparky, funny, very pretty. This was a hugely watchable performance. She had a habit of flicking up the back of her left ankle that was positively endearing.

Sven (Andrew Obeney) A performance that grew on me. He played a Scandanavian. His accent seemed to have a touch of an Al Pacino gangster to it. But he played the later scenes superbly and his long speech at Debbie's birthday party was priceless.

Olive (Charlotte Moore) A character that never seemed to develop. The actress was solid enough, but the character never really grew on me.

Hugh (Jamie Richards)  Stole every scene that he was in. It was like watching Hugh Grant with his mannerisms and delivery. Very, very funny.

Louise (Monica Bertei) Played a mousy, vicar's wife early on who clearly didn't want to mix with the neighbours and her insecurity was nicely portrayed. Her scene 4 performance when under medication that wasn't quite right was marvelous and extremely funny showing this actresses's obvious range.

Brian (Paul Anthoney) Okay, but at his best in the opening scene. Debbie suggests that there's something leery about him, but I never really got that and because of this, the final line of the play fell rather flat.

Mo/Mandy/Melody/Debbie (Antonia Reid)  So much more could have been made of this part. I never bought the brash Canadian, she fell in and out of drunkenness in that scene despite a few nice moments, the silent artist was nicely done however. In my opinion, she was miscast as there's no way that she would pass for playing an 18 year old. Sorry!

Summery: The first time I'd seen this play. Typical Ayckbourn, so I left happy. A very enjoyable evening at a unique venue that I very much hope to return to. I can't wait to see this play again to see how different groups interpret it.