Tonight At 8.30 Part 1 – The Astonished Heart (Chichester)
Review by David Munro
IN 1936 Noel Coward wrote a series of one-act plays to showcase himself and Gertrude Lawrence. Both hated long runs and so Coward felt that doing three one-act plays a night and varying them during the week would obviate boredom.
Lucy Bailey has chosen six of them to direct in two successive programmes the first of which I saw the other day at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
The three plays making up the first programme are Red Peppers, The Astonished Heart and Family Album.
Red Peppers was designed to enable Coward and Lawrence to portray two seedy music hall performers, types both of them would have been familiar with, and to satirise the off-stage bickering and rows inherent in the music hall mileu.
The off-stage scenes were inserted between two Coward pastiche music hall numbers, Has Anyone Seen Our Ship, where they impersonated two sailors and A Couple Of Men About Town in top hat and tails – the whole piece intended to give them ample scope to prove their versatility. Coward described it as “a vaudeville sketch sandwiched in between two parodies of music hall songs”.
Sadly, in this production Coward’s tongue-in-cheek humour and satirical characterisation has been replaced with broad knock-about humour which entirely destroys the charm and wit of the play.
The two numbers, instead of been sung and danced to show the actors’ talents for parody, are done as vulgar ditties, which, while in keeping with the director’s handling of the whole play, destroys Coward’s humorous intentions.
The Coward and Lawrence parts in this play were taken by Alexander Hanson and Josephina Gabrielle who proved in the next two plays to be worthy of better things – but not in Red Peppers, alas!
Coward’s viperish dialogue became a vulgar slanging match and the rest of the characters performed their roles with similar over the top impersonations – I don’t think the Master would have been amused – I know I wasn’t.
However, this rather, for me, unhappy opening of the evening was more than made up for by the next two plays.
The Astonished Heart, which Coward later expanded and made into a film in 1950 starring himself, Margaret Leighton and Celia Johnson, is a great deal more serious.
It takes place within the time frame of a year during which Christian Faber, a psychiatrist, becomes enamoured with Leonora Vail, a school friend of his wife Barbara, and commits suicide as a result. There are six short scenes within which the affair develops and then crumbles; it’s a very trenchant play and beautifully developed within the limited scope of a one-act play.
In this one, the acting and direction were just right. Alexander Hanson made a very real character out of the tormented psychiatrist caught up in the web of his own professionalism.
Josefina Gabrielle, as the understanding yet deeply hurt wife, was heartrending in her performance. Madeleine Worrall, as the scheming friend who realises she has bitten off more than she could chew, made a convincing transition from heartlessness to hopelessness.
It was a well written playlet splendidly realised by the cast and director.
The final play of the trio, Family Album, is a sly satire on Victorian hypocrisy. A man has just died and his family assemble after the funeral to make provision for the future. A few of their father’s, and family’s, skeletons emerge but the whole thing is light-hearted nonsense peppered with a few pseudo Victorian songs.
I felt sorry for the cast in the heat wearing what appeared to be heavy black bombazine but they showed no apparent distress as they gave Coward good value for money.
Alexander Hanson, in his third Coward role of the evening as the eldest son, proved that he has a penchant for light comedy of the Coward style and was bright and briskly amusing as the part demanded.
Josefina Gabrielle played his wife and also gave a bright and amusing reading of the role, convincing me that she is a very versatile actress.
Susan Woolridge was marvellous as the seemingly prim daughter who amusingly comes to life after a few drinks and Nigel Anthony made a real character of the faithful family retainer.
The rest of the cast proved that Coward well played can still be very effective; all in all this was a delightful end to the evening.
Apart from the, to me, misconceived Red Peppers the programme proved the versatility and talents of the cast assembled for the Tonight At 8.30 episodes and I have great hopes for an enjoyable evening with the second set of plays but more of that anon.
This one is well worth seeing if only for the acting in The Astonished Heart, which more then adequately makes up for that which preceded it. You might say Coward is alive and well at Chichester, you wouldn’t be very far wrong!
Tonight At 8.30 Part 1 – The Astonished Heart three playlets and music by Noel Coward.
Directed by Lucy Bailey.
Designer – Dick Bird.
Lighting – Giuseppi Di Lorio.
Sound – Nick Lidster.
Choreography – Leah Hausman.
Musical Director – Mathew Scott.
CAST: Alexander Hanson; Josefina Gabrielle; Jonathan Bond; Peter Moreton; Nigel Anthony; Susan Wooldridge; Madeleine Worrall; Tamzin Griffin; Richard Hansell.
Minerva Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Oaklands Park, Chichester , West Sussex, PO19 6AP.
July 13 – September 2, 2006
(In repertory with Part 2)
Evenings: 7.45pm/Mat: Weds. & Sat. 2.15pm.
Box Office: 01234 781312