• Production News, Productions

    Posted on May 24th, 2011

    Written by Charles

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    Laughter does something special to people and we laughed a LOT through the Friday evening performance of Cranford. Mrs Gaskell has a brilliant way of making us look at ourselves and for our rejection of people for ”bad• manners.   In the case of Mr Holbrook, having eaten peas from a knife was never again acceptable in ”polite Cranford society•.  He was not allowed to marry the woman he loved because her parents felt he was socially unsuitable!  She, poor Miss Jenkins was doomed to the life of lonely, broken hearted ”old maid•.  Such indeed was her love for him, that when she heard he had died, she wasted away for several months and wore semi mourning.

    The fragile Miss Matty Jenkins, played with great sympathy and delicacy by Diane Nicholls, became the focus and a wonderful foil for all her devoted friends. Miss Pole (Jane MacIntyre) provided us with wonderful moments of comedy especially on the subject of the wisdom of remaining unmarried and the wickedness of men in general.  Even the local Doctor, player with Pickwickian good humour and geniality by Ian Nicholls was open to suspicion.

    Miss Matty‘s  other ”dear• friends, Miss Barker (Gilly Fick) and  Miss  Forrester (Collete  Wighton) provided  moments  of  hugely funny interchanges as they vied with each other and Miss Pole for the most ”informed• of the three of all events in the community and also of any perceived ”rules of etiquette•

    There were some hilarious moments of ”business• when any one of the ”ladies• arrived or was present at Miss Matty‘s house.  There was a strict routine for a response to a knock at the door.  Firstly, someone had to rush to the window to see who it was before the ladies arranged themselves either on the sofa or about the room so that the maid, Martha (Charlotte Pennington) could announce the guest(s) ”properly•.  There was one wonderful moment when the three •friends• were seated on the sofa.  Miss Jenkins wanted Martha to use her silver tray for serving tea to the Hon. Mrs Jamieson and Lady Glenmire.  The tray being stored, for safe keeping, underneath the sofa as Martha approached to retrieve it, all the ladies, gathered their skirts and lifted their legs in unison.  Hilariously unladylike behaviour!

    Martha, in fact, provided considerable humour in her own right.  Her ineptitude and clumsiness, her lack of ”finesse• when introducing visitors etc. added to the side splitting events.  Her face and gestures and the singularly inelegant progress across the stage meant we looked forward to her every entry. Her exaggerated Devonian (?) accent was in stark contrast to refined tones of the ”ladies.•

    The sweet and ever considerate Mary, however, trained and  groomed  Martha during the course of the play.  Mary, played by Bronwyn Elliott, coped brilliantly with the rather sugary, ever so sensible but gentle and her generally ”over nice• character with consummate ease. Her ever-smiling face and tender ministering to Miss Jenkins were the very epitome of refined genteel female behaviour!

    Into all this refinement and orderliness walked Lady Glenmire (Mary Parsons.)  She really set the cat among the pigeons and created an all too down-to-earth  persona.  She managed the role beautifully and was a most wonderful contrast to her snobby, arrogant sister-in-law, the Hon. Mrs Jamieson (Judy Tweedale.)   The set of the Hon. Mrs Jamieson‘s head, her demeanour and even the way she seated herself spoke of ”breeding.•   Her mode of speech confirmed the wholeŒ. here was a real lady!

    No Nomads production would be complete without an appearance by Nathan Farrell.  In this production, he created just the right note with his cameo role of Jem Hearn.  Here we had the salt of the earth, the slightly uncouth chap who has a heart of gold and ”gets it right• despite his lack of education and refinement!

    The set was delightful.  It provided enough space for the full-skirted ladies, and the clumsy Martha and it never looked uncomfortable. The stairs gave a nice lift to the back section of the stage and was always an interesting entry and exit point that coincidentally conferred a sense of status on those who used it.  This was Miss Matty‘s home, her stairs and only she and her ”sweetest, dear friend• Mary were allowed to use it.  The notable exceptions being when Martha ”forgot her place• and when Miss Pole decided to stay the night for reasons of ”personal safety•.

    Jill Asher is to be congratulated on the variety and choice of costume.  There were just enough change to be interesting and the choice of colour was perfectly matched for each character. I particularly liked Lady Glenmire‘s costume.

    I loved the choice of music too, but found it frustrating that it wasn‘t identified.  However it was just right.   Just right too was the lighting. The balance was lovely and the momentary ”blaze• when the old love letters were burnt added a sense of finality to Miss Matty‘s dreams.

    There is so much I would like to say about this production but time and paper make that impossible.  However, I think this is among the best productions I have ever seen at the Nomads.  John Norris  and Annabelle Farrell are much to be congratulated.  We all know how difficult it is to make comedy work.  This pitched the comedy at just the right level and the casting was excellent.  I can‘t wait for the theatre‘s next offering.

    One thought.  I can remember my grandmother putting paper on her carpet to prevent fading.  I remember her peeping at the window before opening the door and hiding of her valuables in the bed and under low furniture.   Am I therefore too old for this writing lark I ask myself?  It is very worrying!

    Polly

    This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Production News, Productions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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