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Review
A Month of Sundays
by
Bob Larbey
4th
– 6th May 2006
Winner of
the GDA ‘Best Young Actor’ award for
Ellie Jackson as Nurse Wilson and also nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Play and Best Director. The production was also
a contender for the ‘
Cast
|
Cooper |
Peter
Minall |
|
Nurse Wilson |
Ellie
Jackson |
|
Mrs Baker |
Ann
Dorman |
|
Aylott |
Ray
Davis |
|
Julia (Coopers Daughter) |
Jean
Burgess |
|
Peter (Coopers Son-in-law/ |
Kevin
Parker |
Production Team
|
Director |
Lesley
Wolowiec |
|
Light & Sound |
Jacek
Wolowiec |
|
Set Team |
Tony
Gibson, Mike Breeze & Jacek Wolowiec |
|
Publicity |
Jack
& Jean Burgess and Kevin Parker |
|
Costumes |
Ann
Dorman & Cast |
|
Stage Manager |
Tony
Gibson & Mike Breeze |
|
Make up |
Lynne
Gibson |
|
Front Of House Team |
Andrew
Leach, Valerie Duggan, Pat Francis, Susanna Davis |
Rehearsal
pictures
Cooper and Aylott
live in a nursing home. Cooper, the central character is physically frail but
mentally alert. His friend Aylott is by contrast
physically robust but is losing it mentally. Nonetheless the two of them spend
their days playing chess and planning their ‘escape’ from the nursing home.
Cooper’s wit and wry observation of life however mask the loneliness of
widowhood and his fear of old age. The strained relationship between himself
and his only daughter stands in stark contrast to the tenderness of his
affection for Wilson, one of the nurses, even Mrs
Baker the cleaner, seems to understand him better than Julia. Finally, as Aylott comes close to losing it completely Cooper must come
to terms with his family and learn to accept what life has to offer.
The play
is set in Cooper’s room in a retirement home somewhere in the southeast of
England.
Act One
One Sunday in Spring
Act Two
Sunday one month
later
A Month of Sundays reviewed...
(Gloucester
Drama Association, 5th May 2006)
“…this was an enjoyable
evening, mixing comedy and pathos. The audience left having laughed out loud,
but with a thought-provoking message and this effect was undoubtedly due to the
teamwork of the Painswick Players.”
The hall at Painswick is large and there is a real sense of history to
it. Great beams stretch over the audience as they sat listening to appropriate,
recorded pre-performance music, a piano version of “As Time Goes By”, over the
excellent sound system.
The stage is “end-on” and
is curtained, although these were not used. The lighting and sound desk is
behind the audience at the rear of the hall. The audience seemed to be very
much from the local community and the hall was about half full.
The programme had clear
informative notes on the plot, the characters and some brief history of the
playwright. The front-of-house team were warm and welcoming.
The play is set in a
nursing home, in Cooper’s room, on the first floor. The sturdy box set,
designed and constructed by Tony Gibson, Mike Breeze and Jacek Wolowiec, was
suitably bland and institutional. Flats were painted beige with a dado rail.
The main entrance was upstage centre and downstage right was the door off-stage
to Cooper’s en-suite. An unmade bed was placed along the flat, stage left and
other inexpensive furniture and prints dressed the set. Two armchairs were
well-situated centre stage, allowing a variety of characters to interact with
Cooper, in close proximity to the audience. This design worked effectively,
allowing good movement around the stage and good sightlines.
Lighting was reasonable,
but there were some dark spots and shadows. Curiously, it appeared that stage
right was lit with warm colours, while stage left was in cooler colours. The window,
used by the characters to look out onto the entrance drive, was in the fourth
wall and was mimed. This was no problem, but if the blues were to indicate
daylight from the window, it seemed inappropriate. Generally lighting did not
change in the course of the piece, but the professionalism of the cast and crew
showed when the problem of a tripped light switch caused sudden darkness in Act
Two. The performers waited until some light was provided and then continued
seamlessly, neither reacting to the change in conditions, nor when stage light
was restored. The crew reacted very appropriately, with a short announcement to
the audience, switching on rehearsal light as quickly as possible, and
rectifying the problem with the stage lights calmly and efficiently.
Jacek Wolowiec coordinated
both the light and the sound desk. Sound effects were good and “spot on” in
terms of level and timing. Although, the tea trolley effect outside the door
seemed a little unreal.
Costumes were fine. They
were most appropriate to the character. Cooper’s change from pyjamas and
dressing gown, to blazer and then to brown cardigan suited the mood of the
character and the moment. Aylott’s slide into
dementia was well signalled in his transition from smart jacket and tie, to
scruffy hair and casuals. Wilson’s nurse’s uniform gave an air of
professionalism. This contrasted well with Mrs Baker’s homely outfit, nicely
chosen for the warm-hearted cleaner. Julia and Peter looked positively
“trussed” in their “Sunday Best”. Shades of beige for both smart costumes
worked well for Julia and this was echoed in Peter’s raincoat.
Stage management by Tony
Gibson and Mike Breeze was generally smooth, although costume change for Cooper
in Act Two was lengthy and might have been covered by either sound effects or
music, if it couldn’t have been quicker.
Direction was steady.
Lesley Wolowiec had a good understanding of the interwoven comedy and pathos in
the piece. The fight against, and eventual descent into, the loss of dignity of
the two lead actors was clear to the audience, as were the shades of
relationship between the characters. This was particularly well handled between
Cooper and the young Nurse Wilson. Beneath Cooper’s cheeky comments there was a
well constructed, rather a gentle, caring concern developing, each for the
other. Aylott’s appearance at the door in Act Two, in
desperate silent search for Cooper, was well timed and a good theatrical
moment. There were some good stage pictures, for example Nurse Wilson on the
floor at Cooper’s feet in Act One. However, a suggestion might be to be aware
of the need to alter the pace, to further heighten the changing emotion of the
moment for different sections, instead of maintaining a similar pace
throughout.
The cast worked very well
as a team. Cooper, played by Peter Minall, looked just the part. His infirmity
was generally well played, sitting heavily in his chair, taking uncertain steps
around the stage and a believable fall in Act Two. He used tone and timing well
to comic effect. Some comic lines especially, were delivered very dryly, much
to the enjoyment of the audience. Although insecure on some lines, especially
in monologue, Minall showed huge stage experience in picking up a prompt
cleanly and disguising his forgetfulness as ruminations of the character.
Although this happened a number of times, it did not affect the enjoyment of
his performance. He appeared at his best in scenes with other performers. He
built a lovely sense of repartee with the Nurse and the cleaning lady. The
distance between him and his daughter was well played. His tears over Marjorie
were touching. His challenge, with Aylott, to
remember the eleventh cricketer worked well and had a serious point to it.
Cooper was a character sympathetically drawn, benefitting
from the evident theatrical experience of the actor.
The other performers were
also very competent. Nurse Wilson was sensitively played by Ellie Jackson. It
is hard to believe that one so young could give such a mature performance. A
strong understanding of subtext and connection both with the lines and the
other characters made her a pleasure to watch. At no point did she come out of
character. Indeed at one point she cleverly handled the wrong cue given by
Cooper and adlibbed them both out of the problem to allow the line to come
again naturally a little later in the scene. This showed excellent presence of
mind and generous acting. She was at turns cheeky, professional and tender. It
was a strong and significant performance.
Ray Davis began by playing Aylott as a hearty fellow, which made his demise seem all
the more poignant. Although he might have picked up cues a little quicker in
his early state, he tracked the journey really well. And was most believable in
tone, expression and gesture at the end of the play. He showed good control of
pace as he struggles to remember the cricket team at the end. It was a lovely
moment. Ann Dorman played Mrs Baker with good stage awareness. She created a
nicely rounded character, working well with Cooper, in particular. One really
felt that the two of them might “get it together”.
Julia and Peter, played
respectively by Jean Burgess and Kevin Parker, were well cast. Ms Burgess’
voice and body language were both suitably tight, as Cooper’s daughter. One had
a good sense of frustration in the character, as she sensed a lack of affection
from her father. Her husband seemed very real as a character. A little less
relaxed as a performer, Mr Parker was nonetheless a good support to his stage
wife. He had presence and could be clearly heard throughout the hall.
In summary, this was an
enjoyable evening, mixing comedy and pathos. The audience left having laughed
out loud, but with a thought-provoking message and this effect was undoubtedly
due to the teamwork of the Painswick Players.