Date: Fri 16-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Priestly-Players-theatre-Stern

Full Text:

(rev "When We Are Married" @Town Players, 5/16/97)

Theatre Review-

An Interesting Start: A Comedy Of Manners

By Julie Stern

J.B. Priestly's When We Are Married is not a farce. Rather, it is a comedy of

manners, whose humor stems from the juxtaposition of people of very different

style and outlook - in particular three moderately successful Yorkshire

couples and their disrespectful servants, and a handsome young church organist

who comes from the despised "la-di-da" south of England.

If the actors master their parts, and know their characters well enough to

convey the differences between them, this is much more interesting and easy to

take than farce.

Happily, Newtown's Town Players have assembled a top notch group of

performers, who seem to be having fun with what they are doing, and so are fun

to watch. When We Are Married is this year's season-opener for the Players,

continuing through May 24.

The trio of old friends - Alderman Helliwell, Councillor Parker and Mr Herbert

Soppit - are one-time workers in the woolen mills who over the years have

risen to prominence in village government, and on the board of the local

Methodist chapel. When the play opens they and their wives are planning a big

celebration for their 25th wedding anniversaries; they were all married on the

same day. They are also plotting to fire the organist, who has been seen

courting in public, and besides speaks with "la-di-da" diction, rather than

good plain Yorkshire bluntness.

Gerald Forbes, the organist, is in love with the alderman's niece and ward,

Nancy. He defends himself by blackmailing the trio with the news that the

clergyman who married them so many years ago was not legally qualified to do

so. Therefore they are not married, and have been living in sin for 25 years.

If this fact should be made known, these pillars of church and community would

become a public laughingstock.

In return for a promise of job security, they swear Gerald to secrecy; however

they are not counting on the sharp ears of the household servants, who are

quick to run to the pub with the latest dirt on their insufferable employers.

And so the story unfolds...

I particularly like Rob Pawlikowsi as the philandering Alderman Helliwell,

Deirdre Seeley as his indignant wife, and Andy Rage as the irascible blowhard,

Councillor Parker. They are rounded out by Suzanne Kinnear as Mrs Parker, Ron

Malyszka as Herbert Soppitt, and Kristi McKeever as his wife, Clara.

Together the six manage to portray three couples each unhappy in its own way,

but tied together by their hypocrisy and the highly inflated sense of their

own importance.

The other good comic roles are those of the servants. Martha Bishop is the

garrulous Mrs Norton, who likes to hold forth in the pub, and Danielle

Douchkoff portrays Ruby Birtle, a serving maid who talks incessantly at home.

There is also Mick McDonald as a very drunk photographer who comes to take

pictures of the anniversary "do" for the society page of the local paper.

Timothy Huebenthal and Debra Creedon handle the parts of the young lovers very

competently, but these are less interesting characters than the cranky couples

and the saucy servants. As the plot moves on to consider whether these

marriages really ought to be resurrected, Maureen McFarlane and Larry Martin

round out the cast as an old flame of Helliwell's, and a minister who hopes to

set things right.

The play runs a bit long, but as a season opener it is definitely an

interesting improvement over tired old farces.

The Town Players perform at the Little Theatre in Newtown, on Orchard Hill

Road. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:30 pm, and all tickets are

$10. Call 270-9144 for tickets, details.