THEATRE 
REVIEWS
Terms of Endearment
Theatre Royal York
York
ENGLAND
Ties that bind
Endearment would probably been a better name for this play by Dan Gordon as it bears no resemblance to the original book by Larry McMurtry. The play set up seems like a straight transfer of the film script by James L. Brooks to the stage and would almost certainly have been better suited to a theatre in the round, as it comes over in its present form as bitty, with switches from one short scene to the next.
The plot is of a middle aged woman, devoid of relationships for ten years, who is suddenly comforted by a retired astronaut of similar age who treats the women with whom he comes in contact with very little regard, verging on the outrageous. Add to this mix the woman’s relationship with her daughter, mostly on the telephone, and you have the basis of the story that weaves through relationships and their side effects with highs and lows.
Linda Gray and John Bowe engage
Linda Gray takes the part of the middle aged woman Aurora, a part that she understates almost to the point of becoming unnoticed, a problem that she solves by playing to the audience in the early scenes, but becomes more assured with her part as the play progresses. John Bowe gives us the outrageous, lecherous, retired astronaut Garrett, that is a delight to watch as he pursues Aurora and then gives her some distance to the point of compassion. The daughter Emma who has to deal with her overpowering mother trying to impose her will, is played with insight by Suranne Jones. Only in the end do the participants start to see the error of their ways and the other person’s point of view. Robert Fitch and Katherine Heath supply the other characters to make this play work.
David Taylor endeavours to get everyone in the right place at the right time as he directs, and Julie Godfrey gets to grips with the design problems under the proscenium arch.
Associated with staging the play is the programme design, which gives too much thought to art and design and not enough to the fact that the audience had to read it in subdued lighting conditions - black text on white is always good for being able to read in poor light. Let’s see some effort put into better programme design.
Now the interval was something else. This led to a scrum in the foyer and the adjoining outdoor area, where drinks and eats were being consumed, whilst smoking was allowed in this extension to workplace environment where members of the theatre staff went about their tasks. Where did all the fag ends go; the smell was awful. Back stage is also a workplace area where the stage crew are exposed to smoking on stage no matter what is being lit up within the paper surrounding it.
So how did the audience react to the evening’s events? The applause at the end was enthusiastic, but you have to wonder how many Dallas fans were in the audience and how much was appreciation to what they had just witnessed and experienced. This is a try it and see play, but do not expect too much, then you may be surprised. © BA
“Terms of Endearment” is at York Theatre Royal from the 24th August to the 15th September, 2007. This is a No Smoking theatre. Council car parking charge £2 visitor and £1 resident from 6pm until Midnight.
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.
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