Shropshire Events and Whats On Guide

Shropshire Events and Whats On Guide

Sense and Sensibility

Chris Eldon Lee reviews Hotbuckle Theatre’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’  which is touring widely; including Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on May 10th and 11th,  Condover, Ironbridge and Lilleshall. 

Sixty stalwart souls squelched through stair rods of rain to witness the premiere performance of Hotbuckle Theatre’s latest production. And the warmth of the show soon dried them off.

Alverley Village Hall fair rocked with laughter, and sighed with sorrow, as the satirical antics of polite 19th Century Society was played out before them …. with enormous wit, enthusiasm and affection.

Hotbuckle have the loveable knack of being able to take the rise out of winsome period novels without ever taking the ‘piss’. Adrian Preater’s stage adaptations are completely loyal; but he just can’t help himself taking liberties with the staging.  

The cast of four – portraying twenty ‘odd’ characters – have only a rail of costumes and three drawing room chairs to play with; nothing else. The chairs become artist’s easels or croquet hoops and are even – in a radial move – occasionally sat upon. And the quick, on-stage costume changes win their own laughter.

Preater and his male colleague Callum Anderson are frequently obliged to play women of course, which is always funny. But this necessity becomes the ultimate mother of invention when one of them, in frock and bonnet, suddenly realises he has to play a man in just a moment and, in full view, passes his female apparel over to the other to carry on the scene.

The costume humour is stretched to breaking point when, in a fast and furious sequence, all four actors raid the clothing rail in rapid succession to deliver just one line each … before changing garb again, to deliver another. This skilful quick-fire stage craft is reminiscent of Brian Rix’s old door-slamming Whitehall farces – though Hotbuckle don’t bother with doors. The ultimate joke is that the whole frantic conversation is about a tiny detail of absolutely no consequence.

In this way, Hotbuckle create illusions before our very eyes. Simple spot effects and blatant trickery are performed in full view, and yet the sense of illusion is never lost. You can mime an entire game of croquet with just an actor tapping a drum with a stick. And if it needs to be a windy day, spare actors can stand behind other actors’ crinolines and flap them. Its wild imagination, run riot. Obvious, but very effective.

But Jane Austin fans can be assured that in between the fun and games, her story is told with due reverence. It is Hotbuckle tradition that despite their scant numbers, their productions are anchored by one actor who plays just one part. In ‘Sense and Sensibility’ this falls to their newcomer, Nichola Woolley, who is cast throughout as Elinor Dashwood. She’s an excellent new recruit, who captures the spirit of Austin and early 19th Century way of speaking ‘quite correctly’. Her polite explanation of why she must refuse the kind gift of a horse because her mother couldn’t afford to keep it is a perfect study of painful period etiquette. 

Joanna Purslow, by contrast is, is embarking upon her fifth season with Hotbuckle and this production makes full use of the depth of her acting range. There is a remarkable moment when – again due to ‘numbers’ – she has to rage with stomping anger as the rebutted Marianne Dashwood, and then, in an instant, be as sweet as pie as Mrs Ferrars. The air around her tingles.

Later, Purslow is riveting as penny-pinching Fanny Dashwood bargains down her husband’s intended allowance to the three Dashwood sisters because, after all, they are only ‘half-relations’. Her portrayal of mock logic is both comic and calculating…with a heavy veneer is selfish snobbery.

Adrian Preater is – as ever – the ringmaster of the production. As Colonel Brandon he even gets to wear a ringmaster’s red coat. And as the monosyllabic Mr Palmer he deservedly earns a succession of jolly good laughs with his taciturn replies to Callum Anderson’s Mrs Palmer … and her gushing, gossipy, title tattle.

After simply playing Pip in last season’s ‘Great Expectations’, it is very exciting to see Anderson display this cavalcade of memorable characters. His toothy, sneezing, Anne Steele is a crowd-pleasing hoot.

All the actors have their technique tested to the limit in this highly enjoyable show and they are clearly going to have great fun on their 30-date tour of Britain and Ireland; as are their audiences.