In Praise of Love - Chichester 2006 (Review)
Review by David Munro
IN Praise Of Love at the Chichester Festival Theatre is not the In Praise Of Love that was seen at the Duchess Theatre in September 1973.
Then it was the omnibus title for two playlets, Before Dawn and After Lydia. What is now playing at Chichester is an expanded version of After Lydia which the author, Terrence Rattigan, created for the American market.
Originally, After Lydia was a delicate little play about love and understanding: the premise being that Lydia is dying; she knows it, Sebastian her husband knows it and each is keeping the knowledge from the other.
The play turns on how they resolve facing her death through their mutual love and affection. The same basic plot is retained but Rattigan has fleshed it out with more background and incident which, in my view, has tended to obliterate the original delicacy of his intention.
There seem to be more long-winded speeches than I remember from the original and the shock for the audience when it’s realised that Lydia as well as her husband knows of her terminal condition is blunted.
Philip Wilson, the director, has gathered a good cast of four – Suzanne Burden as Lydia, Michael Thomas as Sebastian, her husband, Philip Cumbus as Joey, their son, and Nathan Osgood as Mark Walters, the old family friend in love with Lydia.
However, to me he failed to make the first act interesting. In this he had little help from the dramatist who padded the plot with a lot of polemical speeches and background details which may have expanded our knowledge of the characters but did not further the plot (what there was of it).
As a result, I noticed quite a few empty seats after the interval which was a pity; those who left missed a much tauter and more dramatic second act in which Rattigan had retained a lot of the original play – although I do not remember Sebastian’s very moving speech about Lydia’s escape from death which was beautifully rendered by Michael Thomas.
Michael Thomas, in fact, came into his own in the second act. He had a difficult part in that he had to portray a character who is boorish, unfaithful and yet at the same time in love with his wife but concealing the fact from her.
Rattigan in the first act gave him a number of speeches which did not ring true and merely made the character of Sebastian unlikeable with no redeeming features. In the second, his real character emerged and one realised, through Michael Thomas’s sensitive portrayal, the quality of the man.
Suzanne Burden made a very real and warm Lydia, her affection and love for her husband was apparent from the first and although she appears to have the intention to betray him with Mark, her performance made one realise that this was only a ploy, the reason for which becomes apparent later.
Her attempts to bring Sebastian and Joey from whom he is estranged together so that they can be a comfort to each other when she dies Miss Burden made sincere and in effect heartbreaking.
This was truly great performance and one would like to see Miss Burden tackle Nora or Hedda or some of the other great woman’s parts for which she seems more than eminently suitable.
Mark Walters is a very difficult part as Rattigan never seems quite sure what role he wants him to play in the domestic drama. Nathan Osgood brilliantly ironed out the inconsistencies and sidestepped the dilemma of his motives and made him a likeable foil to the other two. In fact, he made the best of a bad part very well.
In the same way, Philip Cumbus made a real person out of Joey without much help from Mr Rattigan. He had to change from violent antagonism to affection with very little motivation but he made it seem sincere and believable that he and his father would find consolation in each other.
In short, this is a case of good acting making the most of a bad play. I felt sorry that it had been decided not to go back to the original two-play evening but it was interesting to see how Rattigan had developed it, even if it was not for the better.
I must, however, emphasise that whatever my reservations are about the play, the cast and director got the best out of it, making it a justifiable visit to the theatre simply to appreciate the performances which are well worth the price of admission.
In Praise Of Love by Terence Rattigan
Directed by Philip Wilson.
Designer – Mathew Wright.
Lighting – Johanna Town.
Sound – Lee Stephens.
Composer – Mathew Scott.
CAST: Suzanne Burden ;Michael Thomas; Nathan Osgood; Philip Cumbus.
Minerva Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6AP.
Until Saturday, July 8, 2006.
Evenings 7.45pm/Mat. Weds. & Sat: 2.15pm
Box Office: – 01234 781312