COMING AROUND AGAIN. In rep to 5 June.
b>Leeds
COMING AROUND AGAIN THE ARMLEY STORY
by Andrew G Marshall
West Yorkshire Playhouse (Courtyard Theatre) in rep to 5 June 2004
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Thu & Sat 3pm
Audio-described 29 May 3pm, 3 June 7.45pm
BSL Signed 25 May
Runs 1hr 55min One interval
TICKETS: 0113 213 7700
www.wyp.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 May
After some iffy new work, it's good to see two watchable new plays as the Playhouse's contribution to the Northern Exposures' season in Leeds and Bradford. Andrew G Marshall's no native of Leeds, though he now lives in the terraced, ex-smokestack district of Armley. Its stories and names spin through this story of a house over 3 separate generations: 1910, 1960 and 2004. A neat formula; though used before, in theatre and cinema, it keeps up narrative energy as the action jumps through time, creating parallels and contrasts, while also giving the micro-interest that motivates interest in genealogies and soap-operas.
But the idea of coming around again eventually limits the piece it doesn't harm it, just limits it. Without the scope of ideas that makes the two time-zones in Stoppard's Arcadia so intellectually scintillating, the device can become one where comparisons and contrasts become more important than delving more thoroughly into individual situations.
Nothing very surprising happens here. In 1910 father rules the roost and Molly's suitor's suitably subdued. By 1960 unemployment's robbing dad of authority and muscle's ruling the street as unofficial local economies fill the gap left by larger society (this may be true for Armley, but it seems a decade early for the major economic disruption of most heavy-industry redundancies).
Nowadays, the house shared by family members over the years has become student accommodation and a heritage-tinged place. It's this generation Marshall has most difficulty fitting into his scheme. And where, therefore, the play's design seems most schematic.
Most vivid are unexpected moments fed in from local stories and relationships that challenge rather than dovetail into preconceptions of each age. Despite Emma Williams' neutral in-the-round space which has to do for two plays and does nothing much for either Sarah Punchon's alert direction makes time and action clear, thanks also to a strong cast who weave faultlessly through the plotlines.
Two performers are not in the season's other rep. play. Samantha Power gives 1910 Molly a strong sense of identity as well as knowing her place, while Susan Twist never falls into cliché, making 1960's Lynda a figure of moral force and investing even her minimal 2004 cameo with vivid energy and life.
Sam/Maeve: Claire Lams
John/Caleb: Nick Moss
Sean/Matt: Robert Pickavance
Molly/Maureen: Samantha Power
Billy/Sammy/Alan: Toby Sawyer
Erin/Lynda/Mrs Makepiece: Susan Twist
Director: Sarah Punshon
Designer: Emma Williams
Lighting: Tim Skelly
Sound: Mic Pool
Fight director: Renny Krupinski
Dialect coach: Mark Langley
2004-05-25 12:41:39