THEATRE REVIEWS

This was an exercise in staging which either worked for you or not depending on where you sat. If you were unlucky and have glass in hand, beer drinking and forward leaning neighbours, then your neck had a crick in it trying to see each end of the play area. Yes, the stage had a direct experimental feel about it. To left and right were hanging glitter curtains, with a bedroom above one end. Comings and goings took place through the curtains. Tram lines from one end of the stage to the other allowed props to be transported, with or without actors, to set the scene. The audience had to navigate this set by designer Lara Hopkins from their seat, sometimes with difficulty.

The play by poet Simon Armitage gave us a self indulgent man, John Edward Castle (Geoff Leesley), lying in the bed attempting to make everyone else succumb to his will. The plot followed his attempt to become the leader of the local social club against a rival, retired policeman Spoon (George Layton), at the expense of his long suffering wife Rose (Brigit Forsyth). To bring all this together you needed a Narrator (Joseph Alessi), the family, the young overpowered son Wesley (Lee Warburton) and the mother Gert (Ruth Alexander-Rubin) with Wagstaff (Simeon Truby) to give variance. This was a play where the actors had to work hard to get success, which they achieved.