REVIEW
ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN by Alan Ayckbourn
Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
19-23 March 2019
REVIEW
ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN by Alan Ayckbourn
Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
19-23 March 2019
Round and Round the Garden is the last of a trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn known as The Norman Conquests. Each play features the same six characters who spend a weekend together and each play can be watched in any order as they were written to work as self-contained pieces. The settings for the plays vary from the dining room, living room and garden and each play offers a different glimpse of the emotional inter-play between the protagonists.
Alan Ayckbourn is a master of depicting the comic amidst the real everyday hurt, frustration, insecurity, and desire experienced by normal people and his characters exhibit very recognisable traits and dilemmas.
The confusions and interactions happen at the home of sibling, Annie, who cares for her invalid mother. She is single but is friends with her neighbour, Tom, a vet. An unspoken attraction exists between the two but Tom's inability to express his emotions further than tending to Annie's cat leads to a simmering frustration on her part. Her brother, Reg and sister-in-law, Sarah, are coming to stay and take over Mother's care so that Annie can go away for a break. However, no one is aware that Annie's brother-in-law, Norman, is the one who is whisking her away. Certainly not his wife, Ruth, who is also Annie's sister. What a tangle! You may think so but events become even more complicated with hilarious consequences.
The characters are played with energy and each actor distinguishes themselves by their portrayal of the individual needs, reactions and struggles.
Jamie Evans plays the selfish, philandering, opportunistic Norman to great comic effect and is the pivot around which the other characters are spinning. Annie is played by Carly Davison who makes you really understand the feelings beneath the capable carer role she has been assigned in life. Nicholas Jacobs makes an excellent job of the hapless vet who understands the needs of animals better than the women around him. Chris Linnat-Scott and Amanda Whiteford play the couple, Reg and Sarah. Chris Linnat-Scott plays the amiable brother-in-law with secret longings very naturally and Amanda Whiteford brings her usual impeccable delivery to the role of the bossy, interfering sister and wife, who also has her share of unfulfilled desires. Norman's long-suffering wife, Ruth, played by Beverley Brough, is highly entertaining, particularly when she is sharing her thoughts about Norman.
Lindisfarne's involving production of Round and Round the Garden brings the characters and their poignant jumble of relationships onto a very well-designed set, courtesy of the director, Graham Smerdon. You could certainly believe you were in a sunny suburban, walled garden. So come on in and let the fun begin!
Review: Vanessa Osborn
Alan Ayckbourn is a master of depicting the comic amidst the real everyday hurt, frustration, insecurity, and desire experienced by normal people and his characters exhibit very recognisable traits and dilemmas.
The confusions and interactions happen at the home of sibling, Annie, who cares for her invalid mother. She is single but is friends with her neighbour, Tom, a vet. An unspoken attraction exists between the two but Tom's inability to express his emotions further than tending to Annie's cat leads to a simmering frustration on her part. Her brother, Reg and sister-in-law, Sarah, are coming to stay and take over Mother's care so that Annie can go away for a break. However, no one is aware that Annie's brother-in-law, Norman, is the one who is whisking her away. Certainly not his wife, Ruth, who is also Annie's sister. What a tangle! You may think so but events become even more complicated with hilarious consequences.
The characters are played with energy and each actor distinguishes themselves by their portrayal of the individual needs, reactions and struggles.
Jamie Evans plays the selfish, philandering, opportunistic Norman to great comic effect and is the pivot around which the other characters are spinning. Annie is played by Carly Davison who makes you really understand the feelings beneath the capable carer role she has been assigned in life. Nicholas Jacobs makes an excellent job of the hapless vet who understands the needs of animals better than the women around him. Chris Linnat-Scott and Amanda Whiteford play the couple, Reg and Sarah. Chris Linnat-Scott plays the amiable brother-in-law with secret longings very naturally and Amanda Whiteford brings her usual impeccable delivery to the role of the bossy, interfering sister and wife, who also has her share of unfulfilled desires. Norman's long-suffering wife, Ruth, played by Beverley Brough, is highly entertaining, particularly when she is sharing her thoughts about Norman.
Lindisfarne's involving production of Round and Round the Garden brings the characters and their poignant jumble of relationships onto a very well-designed set, courtesy of the director, Graham Smerdon. You could certainly believe you were in a sunny suburban, walled garden. So come on in and let the fun begin!
Review: Vanessa Osborn
The production is at the Dixon Studio from Tuesday 19th March – Saturday 23rd March at 7.45 pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.30 pm.
Tickets on sale now from the box office 01702-351135 and online
£15.00
Concessions: £1.00 off
Tickets on sale now from the box office 01702-351135 and online
£15.00
Concessions: £1.00 off