This weekend, Alan Ayckbourn’s classic double bill, ‘House’ and ‘Garden’, opened at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham’s Brindley Place, and we were lucky enough to grab tickets to both shows.
The plays are notoriously complicated to stage, due to their unconventional structure – they run simultaneously! With two audiences, two stages, and two interlinking storylines, each play is a work of Ayckbourn’s signature observational wit and brilliance in its own right, but with one cast, who must run between one stage and another to meet their cues, it is a rare treat to catch them both!
The Crescent Theatre is particularly well adapted for the staging of a diptych. On the evening of Saturday 3rd February, we witnessed the opening night of ‘House’ in the Main Theatre, before popping over to the Rob Barber Studio to see the evening performance of ‘Garden’ on Tuesday 6th February.
With the grandeur of the large theatre room perfectly fitting the big house, and the level stage of the Ron Barber Studio bringing you right into the garden, the plays are undoubtedly an immersive experience.
‘House’ centres the character of Teddy Platt (played by David Baldwin), who is seeking to impress the novelist and political advisor, Gavin Ryng-Mayne (James David Knapp), visiting to assess Platt’s suitability for a role in Parliament.
Unfortunately for Teddy, the timing of Ryng-Mayne’s visit couldn’t be worse. It is the afternoon of the garden fete, and both Teddy’s wife and daughter are ignoring him as it is uncovered that he has been having an affair. To top things off, French film star Lucille Cadeau (Paula Snow) arrives to open the fete, and Teddy appears to be the only person in the group who does not speak French.
House comes out strong in its first act, particularly with the arrival of Giles (Nick Owenford), the cuckolded neighbour and Teddy’s former best friend. Owenford adds a warm dimension to the frosty family dynamic, balancing pathos and brilliantly-delivered comedic relief.
Between him and Pearl (Chloe Trotter), the less-than-efficient cleaner, Ayckbourn’s humour is in safe hands. These two take on an even bigger role in ‘Garden’ and had the audience in stitches.
The second act falters slightly, as the bulk of the action is taking place in the garden, but this is certainly no fault of the cast and crew. While the pace of the play naturally slows, we are brought much closer to the characters, with moments of honesty and intimacy set against the comedic and chaotic backdrop.
We see some horrifically slimy and awful antics from Ryng-Mayne-with-a-Y, and Lola Hill and Charles Hubbard are shining examples of the young talent that comes through The Crescent Theatre. Trish Platt (Rose Pardo Roques) comes into her own in the second act, delivering a very moving account of her life.
Any slowing down in the second act of ‘House’ is immediately opposed by the fast-paced closing of ‘Garden’. Preparations for the fete are underway, and Barry (Colin Simmonds) and Lindy Love (Deronie Pettifer) are hard at work erecting tents and organising the rabble.
An explosion of crumbling relationships and sudden passions is just one of the mishaps threatening to ruin the fete, as the weather turns against the couple and the neighbourhood is flung into chaos.
Barry is exceptionally funny, and his oblivious callousness works wonderfully in opposition to his poor wife’s sweet timidity. We also saw much more of Warn (Eduardo White) in ‘Garden’, and once again he elicited almost continuous laughter with his intermittent rage and firm grasp on visual comedy. He worked wonderfully opposite Pearl and Izzie (Michaela Redican), and we’d love to be a fly on the wall in their house figuring out that bizarre dynamic!
While the plays are certainly strong stand-alone productions, I would absolutely recommend catching them both if you can. The wonderful sense of completeness and of closure that watching ‘Garden’ brought us was well worth the confusion we felt during ‘House’, as characters burst onto the stage in a seriously altered state to that which they had left it.
It made for an amusing raised eyebrow when Joanna (Jenny Thurston) came to the final curtain call covered in mud and twigs, but equipped with the additional knowledge of ‘Garden’, we loved the way in which each play reveals enough to keep you satiated, while still leaving questions unanswered.
You can watch the performances in either order. Watching ‘House’ first produces some very funny moments, where the humour stems from having no idea what has just happened outside. Watching ‘Garden’ first would perhaps clue you in to more of the plot – it is arguably the funnier of the two plays, and certainly the most chaotic, with ‘House’ being more emotionally-driven.
The plays balance wonderful wit, satire and irony with moments of real human conflict and seriousness, in a style that is so unapologetically Ayckbourn’s.
The Crescent Theatre do a fabulous job at juggling these two notoriously tricky plays, with every cue met perfectly on-time. During the final curtain call, the cast are split between two stages. To avoid moments of pause, the team put on a free raffle for the audience, and we were lucky enough to win a wonderful little ‘House & Garden’ teddy bear keyring, which was a lovely touch!
Directors Liz Plumpton, Steph Urquhart and Graeme Braidwood have achieved something wonderful, truly stepping up to a challenge for the theatre’s centennial season, and doing credit to ‘House & Garden’ on the 25th anniversary of the plays.
You’ve got a few days left to catch both stagings at The Crescent Theatre, so grab your tickets while you can! They are available via the theatre’s website, here, with limited opportunities to see both plays on the same day, this weekend!
If you’ve missed out on ‘House & Garden’, or you’ve been to see them and are eager for more from The Crescent Theatre, fear not. They’ve got a fantastic programme of shows lined up, including ‘Educating Rita’ (24th February – 2nd March), Love from a Stranger (13th April – 20th April) and ‘Gypsy’ (11th May – 18th May). There’s something for everyone!
Further afield, there’s a fantastic range of theatre productions over the remainder of the month. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best shows here. Happy watching!
