Noel Coward's fine-spun comedy concerning the explosive chemistry
within two married couples holidaying in the south of France will just
about satisfy the Master's devotees, despite occasionally failing to
spark in this production by The Hatherley Players at the Playhouse
Theatre, Cheltenham.
Having divorced five years previously, Amanda Prynne and Elyot
Chase suddenly find themselves sharing adjacent hotel rooms with their
respective new spouses, and where the very antagonism which originally
drove them apart prompts a rekindling of the old matrimonial flames.
With renewed intimacy and almost indecent haste they decamp for
Paris, leaving their bewildered better halves frantically following on
behind.
Unfortunately, some of the play's wittiest lines are also left
gasping for air as co-director Rod Holliman* rather stifles the role of Elyot, giving a somewhat lacklustre performance in which at times he is
barely audible.
He becomes decidedly more convincing during the deliciously frothy
squabbles which ultimately keep this particular pot from going
irretrievably off the boil and dying a slow death through lack of pace.
Shirley Burgess as a delightfully dippy Sybil is the chief ray of
light, especially during the dimly-lit first act which is suffused with
an excessively dark aquamarine wash.
Holliman's co-director Geoffrey Jackson and Diana Brown provide
some backbone as the earthy and honest Prynnes, and while "poor dull
Victor" isn't the most colourful of characters, Jackson's portrayal
still hovers precariously between the amusing and the anaemic.
Yet while some champagne corks get stuck in the bottle, the
re-assembled ménage à quatre injects sufficient fizz into the final act
to redeem the earlier lack of sparkle. Not, however, before Jackie Smith
as beleaguered maid Louise has enjoyed one glorious moment before
succumbing to a lethal overdose of the French language.
Top honours go to set designers Doug Hale and David Holtham who
ensure that a simple but effective Riviera hotel balcony is transformed
into an exquisitely furnished Paris apartment.
In the end, it more or less stays afloat, but there's no denying
that it needs some extra impetus to bring it fully to life.
Review by Simon Lewis - BBC Radio Gloucestershire
