October 2013 - Cider with Rosie

Laurie Lee’s charming autobiography is imaginatively adapted for the stage by James Roose-Evans. The adult Lee, played by Roger Bingham, perfectly provides poetic, wide-eyed, nostalgic, retrospective commentary to his salad days and gets in the thick of the action, occasionally rubbing shoulders with his youthful self, Stuart Rooker.

It’s a feel-good, wholesome and cosy memoir, which has the audience grinning from ear to ear throughout. Lee is upfront and honest however to admit that even the lovely, sleepy Cotswold village of his childhood is not exempt from harsher, less salubrious elements of life.

Lee’s upbringing is by no means easy. He idolises his mother, Edwina Gascoyne who single-handedly brings up six children in relative poverty after his father abandons the home. He chooses to focus on the more cheery aspects however and paints an idyllic existence. Although a time of rapid change during The Great War, the fond memories are of a bygone age.

School comprises rote learning of tables and religion. Home is filled with mother’s stories whilst the children sit round the kitchen table, entranced. Entertainment is a merry go round at Weston Super Mare and bad jokes and singing at a festival.

The play is finely directed by Phil Gascoyne, and all the cast are caught up in the sheer wonder and amiability of Lee’s life. The lighting, set and motion picture backdrop expertly depict the passing of the seasons. When the titular drink is poured in a sunny meadow, it’s a bitter-sweet experience as innocent youth is lost forever. 

Tudor Players' latest offering is penned by the creative mind responsible for the seminal works The Stepford Wives and The Boys from Brazil. It is no surprise then that Ira Levin's comic thriller is an intelligent play that subverts the regular whodunit conventions.

Way ahead of his time in the 1970s, Levin's play concerns murder most foul in order to secure intellectual property. Director Peter Howard navigates his fine cast through more twists and turns than Hampton Court. On a piscine note, there are plenty of red herrings and some cod foreign accents. Roger Bingham is terrific as Sidney Bruhl who may or may not be in cahoots with nervous wife Myra, Andrea Howard, regarding bumping off newbie playwright Clifford, John Moran. Although a comedy, one or two violent moments shock as the double-crossing goes exponential.

Judith Wade resists the temptation to go over the top and convinces as psychic neighbour Helga. Her predictions are eerily accurate as she picks up the disturbing energies in the room. Kevin Cheeseright pops up in a cameo as legal adviser Porter Milgrim, not immune to the seductive force of the winning script.

As well as the good players, the set looks first class. The authentic furniture evokes the eighteenth century home nicely. The plethora of weaponry looked frighteningly genuine. Indeed, a certain apprehension arose as Bingham pointed a loaded crossbow at the audience.

Despite the blood-spattered bodies however, Levin maintains a tone of levity, humour and silliness so we are chuckling not quaking in our boots on leaving the theatre.
 

Director Rod Duncan has his work cut out in this terrific play, as the cast of four play no less than - gulp - 39 parts between them. The inventive mobile sets make an invaluable fifth, albeit inanimate, cast member. The hilarious mobile toilet scene for example is unforgettable. The giant projection screen is also an effective flourish.

John Fereday is well cast as Wormold, an unsuccessful vacuum cleaner salesman turned superspy and purveyor of dubious weapons of mass destruction.

Fereday's Mensaesque memory is required since he is on stage for practically 99% of the time. The consistently reliable Phil Gascoyne plays MI5 spook Hawthorne who improbably recruits Wormold who proceeds to play fantasy espionage with increasingly serious results.

The plot is so outrageously farcical, one suspects it must have some semi-autobiographical resonance. Indeed the old adage Write What You Know is true in novelist Greene's story.

There's a clever U-turn in the second act as enjoyable silliness morphs into a gripping, intriguing and absorbing thriller. There is a genuine shock as Everyman hero Wormold takes matters into his own hands with deadly force.

Ross Bannister relishes his over the top Cuban caricatures including Police captain Segura, a marvellously moustachioed Chief, and Wormold's nice but dim assistant Lopez. Fran Rooker is on form as Wormold's daughter Milly and just to confuse everyone also plays Wormold's love interest, Beatrice.

The superb soundtrack is worth the entrance fee alone. Expect it to be on sale in the foyer alongside calendars sometime soon?