THEATRE REVIEWS

An elderly man and woman enter the stage. The man in front of me leans forward, his head fills the centre of the stage and so the scene is set for an evening at the theatre. The elderly man on stage speaks in clear diction and is heard by everyone present. Then the woman speaks, she sounds as though she is in an echo chamber, the reason, she has a throat infection and is forced to use a face microphone which has not been set up properly. So the die is cast for the play. The play is by Alan Bennett, it is called Enjoy. It is typical of this playwright who is obsessed with old people, toilet humour, sex and swearwords. This time the characters are acting out leaving the terraced house where everything around them is being demolished. The couple bicker and appear not to get on, a knock at the door gives access to a very tall woman who looks remarkably like a man in drag, she is an observer and sits and takes notes. By this time the audience is quiet and looking bland, some titter at the weak black humour from the script. There is no overall enthusiasm.

Peter Nolan plays the man Wilfred Craven, Gilly Tompkins plays the woman Connie Craven, and Alex Scott Fairley plays the observer Ms. Craig. A daughter arrives on the scene with a chauffeur expecting to be taken to Saudi Arabia for better things. Various characters then make appearances to add to the plot and the play goes through its motions. The obligatory cigarette is light, as if in defiance of the law, for there is no reason for it to be burnt on stage or indeed by members of the audience round the entrance doors of the theatre.

What I can see of the set is a living room typical of the time with wall studding on the left, a complete wall on the right and ground works to the front, these have been designed by Nigel Hook and lit by Ciaran Bagnell. The over designed programme is hard to read in the subdued light of the theatre with white text on a black background and the cast ’s profiles are not accompanied by photographs for easy recognition.

It took two directors Damian Cruden and Juliet Forster to get something from this intellectual’s preconceived view of the ageing working class, forced to contend with the traumas of the fast changing world around them.

This was the sort of play that you could quite easily lose faith with quickly and wonder why you were enduring it. By the look of the audiences faces that was what some of them were thinking. It might be time to reappraise this author’s work before he finds himself being observed in a museum. I wonder what the man in front of me made of it, he saw it all. © BA

“Enjoy” is at the Theatre Royal York from the 3rd November to the 24th November, 2007. This is a No Smoking theatre. Council car parking charge £2 visitor and £1 resident from 6pm until Midnight. Box Office Telephone: 01904 623568

Is there an Air Conditioning certificate prominently displayed in your theatre foyer stating the date of manufacture of the appliance and when the system was last inspected and serviced - if not, complain to the theatre management.