Review

A Sideways and Sometimes Irreverent Look at Life

The Country Neighbour

Three in one evening does go. And, as one of the more worldly characters in this thespian treat might have said: “And very nice it was too.” The Basildonians were taking “A Sideways and Sometimes Irreverent Look at Life” in the form of three one-act plays.

The theatrical skills needed to transport the minds and spirits of an audience from a pristine if soul-less village hall into a playwright’s chosen world is no easy task. It often takes the first act to achieve. The challenge of this production is not only that there is only one act to create a mood and execute the plot, but the trick has to be repeated again, and again.There was a theme to the three playlets, but the telling of it each time was so very different.

In “A Respectable Funeral” by Jimmie Chinn, the omnipresent character is not on stage. “Mother” had just been buried and her three daughters return to their maternal home after the funeral. The scene is heavy but the humour sharp. The sisters go from tears and tea to Scotch and swapping claims of each being death-bed favourites. When “bilious” Greta (Sandra Wilkinson) says her dying mother told her she was the daughter who made her laugh, sharp Evadne (Erena Burton) counters “Our mother hadn’t smiled for 20 years”.

But all does not go according to plan as they divi-up money from the sale of their mother’s house. I’d like a through-lounge, says Joyce (Sue Matthews) as Mother’s dark secret comes out, and black sheep Charlie (Peter Nightingale) turns up to upset the fragile sisterly alliance. When the killer line, “mother was a cow” coming from a daughter who in the same act was mourning her loss, did not jar it was as clear a sign as needed that director Stella Ross with her faultless cast achieved the magic of theatre in this opening play.

The change of pace with “Failed Investments” by Lynn Brittney was immediate. No Pinter-style pauses here for Angela Crompton as bitter divorcee Anne and Anita Lewis as flatmate career girl Carol hit the stage – and the wine – at a pace. No question who are the victims: women. With precision timing and aim the four women cast go for the jugular of their respective targets. The lines are razor sharp. Men don’t change. “Even when he was having an affair it was always Wednesdays – regular as clockwork.”

Gill Reid was particularly on the mark as magistrate Margaret who swayed from total control to emotional disarray. Penny Hawson as down-trodden Judith suitably came to life to pile on the misery for off-set Roger. A powerful performance directed by Sarah Graham that handled this fast moving play which delighted with a swipe at everyone including some self-parody – “Men think that all women do when they got together is talk about men.”

Let me think about that…but not for long as two deckchairs later came “Dancers”, one of five playlets from Jean McConnell’s aptly named “Deckchairs”. It is a brilliantly natural “she said, I said” chat beside the sea. Angela Crompton and Sue Matthews return to the stage to show what superb character actors they are leaving behind the black humour and cutting wit of their earlier parts, for a gentle bit of verbal sparing. Betty and Wynn gossip about what was and what might still be. “I wouldn’t mind having a man about, as long as he can mend fuses.” The two Basildonians were so comfortable in their parts and lulled the audience into seaside mood that most didn’t even notice when there was a priceless bit of ad-libbing in the sun.

Yes, three plays did fit very nicely into one evening of humour and thought. The audience were indeed transported to some very different places.

Doug Wills