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Author
Richard Bean
Director
Paul Miller
Design
Hayden Griffin
Lighting
Andy Phillips
Original music
Terry Davies
Music
Riette
Hayes-Davies
Performers
Sara Beharrell
Liam Garrigan
Caroline O'Neill
Jeremy Swift
Majorie Yates
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The Royal Court Theatre
8
January - 7 February 2004 |
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Honeymoon
Suite is
the latest new play to be presented
by the English Touring Theatre at the
Royal Court. Followers of this company
will recall, I am sure, The
York Realist,
which ran at the same venue and transferred
to the West End following plaudits from
critics across the spectrum.
Sadly
this current production is unlikely
to follow in it's predecessor's footsteps.
Honeymoon
Suite is
set in a seaside resort; a pleasant
(one is led to believe, an expensive)
hotel with a balcony, view of the beach,
king size bed, and en suite bathroom
complete with soaps and shampoos - even
a bottle of Dom Perignon on ice for
couples celebrating their nuptials.
Today all this is standard fare, but
for the young newlyweds who arrived
on their honeymoon 48 years ago, it
was luxury indeed.
The play
is set in three time zones - the wedding
night, the silver wedding anniversary,
and then a further 23 years (the present
day) later. The suite of the title is
the unvarying location, a reminder -
sometimes pleasant, and sometimes painful
- of the passage of time and the changing
relationships of the couple.
Not a
lot happens in this piece. It is a little
reminiscent of a 1980s sitcom like "whatever
happened to the Likely Lads" - lots
of Northern humour, aspirational monologues
about social climbing, life-long love,
various forms of contraception, and
the usual stereotypical cultural differences.
The play
employs three sets of actors as the
couple at different stages of their
lives, often on stage at the same time
- which makes it interesting to see
how the characters and their relationship
have changed with tinme. In the beginning
the young Eddie Whitchell is filled
with cock-sure entrepreneurism and drive,
making promises to elevate his new wife
to middle class status. A quarter of
a century later, the older and not so
wiser Tits, having hit hard times, has
been forced to commit subterfuges and
arson in order to maintain his status
- but during the course of his empire-building
has become disconnected from his wife,
who has been having an affair, and his
daughter, who is a lesbian. A further
twenty-three years passes and Eddie
has discovered yoga, health food and
the quiet reclusive life, and has locked
himself away in the hotel, the only
thing that survives from his wedding.
Marfleet, his wife (though long-time
separated), has used the passing time
more effectively: by gaining a law degree
and playing a key role in a crucial
agreement between Protestants and Catholics
in Northern Ireland. She is now a Baroness.
Crucial
to the plot of the play is the significance
of the suite - what it represents, and
most importantly what it represented
to the newly wedded couple. The young
Irene's father had paid for it and had
to resort to working a reckless, and
deadly, winter trawling shift that clearly
marred the experience for the young
bride for the rest of her life, making
it difficult for her to view the suite
with the same ardour that her husband
had for its symbolisation of wealth
and success.
As a
study of how relationships can grow
and change, Honeymoon Suite offers humorous
and sometimes touching insights. Even
so, one is left wondering about the
intervening years and the unanswered
questions they prompt.
John
Alderton and Marjorie Yates, as the
older Whitchell and Baroness Marfleet,
display genuine affection for each other
and understanding of their respective
predicaments about divorce, remarriage
and suicide. There is deep love between
this older couple and their comfort
under the duvet is endearing to the
audience. Alderton's long greasy hair,
Indian hippie garb, and passion for
new age rituals, are intended to portray
a man in supposed turmoil, but the effort
does not quite come off. Yates, however,
radiates energy and gives a balanced
and understanding performance.
The Silver
Wedding Anniversary couple Tits and
Izzie played by Caroline O'Neill and
Jeremy Swift are, much less convincing.
perhaps it is intentional, but their
performances were very detached from
each other and Tit's distress was impossible
to believe in.
But the
young Eddie and Irene - a brilliant
Liam Garrigan (of Holby City fame) and
wonderfully naive Sara Beharrell - captured
perfectly the plight of the newly-wed
under 20 couple, complete with anxieties
about sexual performance, unwanted pregnancy,
future security, innocent dreams, and
doubts.
Terry Finnegan
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