Review

The Country Neighbour

Approaching the village hall nestled snug amongst the lavish greens like a sleepy puppy pursuing its afternoon nap, one might have been tempted to prejudge the Basildonian’s offering of, “Whose Life is it Anyway”, in much the same way as this parochial setting suggested. But parochial, it certainly was not.

Centred on a wisecracking sculptor, Ken Harrison, profoundly handicapped as a result of a car accident, whose bid to control his life or more to the point, his death strikes at the heart of social conscience, and leaves the audience with plenty to contemplate as they absorb the black humour, and ride the emotional surf of Ken’s absolute despair.

We follow Ken as he battles against embedded medical practices and empathise with his struggles against misplaced protocol which, throughout, bears little relevance to the needs of the person. But the justification of his push for recognition is not truly felt until the line “I get the tablets and you get the tranquillity”. In a clamour for relief from such dark despairing moments however, the plot injects humour to anesthetise our sensitive sides with perfectly timed comments and quips from various characters making it impossible to be affected for long.

Overloaded with ethical and moral questions put emphatically by a commanding performance by Tony Plaice who plays Ken, this script, in the wrong hands, could have put the audience in much the same suicidal frame of mind as the patient, but not a bit of it. The performance rolled along on an unstoppable momentum of great casting and perfect timing.

Dr Emerson (Chris Jones), a reverent medical man of unquestioning faith to his science, teamed up with other eminent colleagues to put the case for the opposition whilst the pranks of Nurse Sadler (Henri Bailey) and John (Chris Pett) reminded us and Ken of the things in life that would be denied a healthy man.

Sister Anderson was on the button as the archetypal nurse in charge, knowing exactly when to do something and when to do nothing. Stella Ross played the character of the Sister flawlessly; never rattled she remained throughout the stalwart of devotion to duty.

Parochial or not the Basildonians achieved a respectable presentation of a play of morals. Hats off to Peter Nightingale for excellent entertainment, a great play and a memorable night.

Tina Haynes