Cast
Michael
Garner
Gawn
Grainger
Jonathan
Guy Lewis
Chloe Newsome
Imogen Stubbs
Ian Talbot
Penelope
Beaumont
Director
Christopher
Luscombe
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Alphabetical Order
by Michael Frayn
Richmond Theatre
8 May - 13 June 2009
Michael Frayn’s 1975 comedy Alphabetical Order is an ambiguous play. On the surface, and for some of the time, it is a witty, even farce-like British comedy full of misunderstandings and double meanings. The action is set in what now seems a time-warp. It is the chaotic press-cutting office of a provincial newspaper, which is used in all sorts of ways by the staff of the journal. At the centre of the play is reforming newcomer who is all apologies and sensitivities at the start but who by the second act (six months later) has tidied and ordered all the chaos in the office. Her efficiency however stretches beyond the filing cabinets to the lives of those using the library, especially her ‘boss’. Surrounding Lesley are a host of stereotypes including a neurotic superior in the library, a ‘fallen’ academic (John), a taciturn and hen-pecked comments writer (Arnold), a fantasist (Wally) and busy bodying features’ writer (Nora). Popping in and out is the ‘man they could not do without’, essentially the office boy, Geoffrey.
Act One reveals both office chaos and the confusions in the lives of all the characters. It’s hard to believe that either could hold together indefinitely, and that all muddle along oblivious of wider issues and their own destinies. The former is cleverly revealed first by their ignorance of world affairs symbolized by the amount they do not cut out of the national newspapers, and secondly by reading out of headlines of important events that make no difference to their lives. Act Two shows how precarious their existence is when they learn that the paper is to close before what they think is the latest edition can appear. Almost surprisingly it is the ‘new girl’ Lesley whose tidying up appears like a criticism of how the paper was run (or not run). She has cleared up all the mess, at least in the library filing system. Yet it is she who is in the forefront in galvanizing her colleagues into fighting the keep the newspaper going, at least for one more night. And she wins their encouraging support even after in her absence at a union meeting the cast relapse with fury into the old chaos in which she originally found them. In the end it is hard to decide whether order or chaos is better, because though the filing is much better under Lesley’s unofficial management, interpersonal relationships are not so. Lesley’s attempt to re-arrange these ‘for the best’ only paper over the cracks of the complexities of the other characters’ lives and relationships.
I have said that Frayn’s play is ambiguous because it operates mostly on the level of what happens to these stereotypical characters in a provincial newspaper office. But frequently the stereotypes become archetypes and the audience finds themselves looking at characters without self-knowledge playing on the edge of an abyss. Despair lurks around every corner and escape seems impossible. Sometimes I wondered whether the play could stand this shift of focus, but it can though sometimes the shift between stereotypes and archetypes appears a little contrived. But is that not what an artifact is?
Each of the characters is rich and is played with corresponding vigour by all the actors. Gawn Grainger’s Arnold is convincingly morose confining himself for much of the time to grunts and looks. Ian Talbot’s Geoffrey, satchel at the ready with new papers, is a perfect portrayal of the indispensable long-serving staff member who is the first to be dispensed with. Michael Garner’s check-dressed wide boy, Wally, always fantasizing about his great escape but always procrastinating is excellent. As is Jonathan Guy Lewis’ tortured and self-defeatingly, self-important John. But perhaps it is the women who shine even brighter. Chloe Newsome is perfect as the shy but determined new comer who long hair is trimmed in the second act when she has reorganized the cutting library. Her neurotically energized boss, Lucy, played by Imogen Stubbs wonderfully fluctuates between insouciant confidence and ‘wild despair’. Unlike Thomas Hardy’s description of mankind as “slighted but enduring” she exaggerates whatever slights she has but scarcely being able to endure them. Lastly there is a superb performance by Penelope Beaumont, in her ‘new shoes’, as Nora the office mother, nanny, bully and know-all. She is the kind of person who in death is described as having had a heart of gold, but in life has driven all around her to despair with her prissy ways and interfering comments. Penelope Beaumont both looked and acted to a tee such a character.
Everything adds up in this production. The costumes, sets and performances are all perfect and seem to sit with great ease in Richmond. Frayn’s play masquerades as time-capsuled commentary set before the days of databases, but uncomfortably often this is just the door to deeper insights and comments. Both aspects were brilliantly caught in Christopher Luscombe’s direction.
Roderick Swanston |
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