Peter Quilter has had his greatest success with a pair of bio-plays, "End of the Rainbow" about the last days of Judy Garland and "Glorious!" about the career of notoriously-awful Opera Singer Florence Foster Jenkins. So in this play, he creates a fictional star actress, Lydia Martin, on her farewell performance, as family, her agent, her new lover, her company manager, and her dresser come in to prepare her, recriminate, settle scores, and look at what lies ahead for them. It's not the smoothest of scripts, as there are some emotional lurches as characters suddenly spill their anxieties or make sudden changes of mind, but the production largely smooths over these lurches and makes them feel believable.
As the lead, Liz St Clair Long has the diva-esque power down, drawing all attention to herself and her issues, relishing in the spotlight, and suitably snippy when anyone else draws focus from her. There are moments of gentleness here and there between her and her daughter (Kate Harris in a performance that manages to show disgruntledness without being overly whiney), or between her and her dresser (Sally Rynveld giving a controlled, gentle performance that shows affection without indulgence), but elsewhere there's her slight impatience with her new fiance Charles (Saban Berrell, gentle and keen but a little naive), the fiery relationship between her and her ex Paul (Rob de Fries in a role that is his specialty as the sarcastic and suave lover with a way of being hostile while grinning), the passive-aggression of her agent (Jane Alhquist barely concealing the emotional mess the character is), and flatout aggression-aggression between her and her the company manager (Jazmin Skopal showing youthful petulance and giving not-quite-as-good-as-she-gets).
Andrew Kay's set gives us a dressing room filled with clever little details (including a plethora of fake-posters that I'd love to examine closer), solidly lit by Mike Maloney, and a view of the stage from behind the scenes which allows us to feel in the space with the performers. Neville Pye's sound design supports without overwhelming, and Anna Senior's costume design gives fancy flourish to the leading lady and realistic support to everyone else.
An affectionate tribute to leading ladies with a side-eye at those around them, it's a light drama with a few spiky edges here and there.
No comments:
Post a Comment