| Grand Slam of a Comedy |
At Frapetsus |
| Frapetsus- Bred in Heaven , Aberystwyth Arts Centre , September 23, 2011 |
“Bred in Heaven” raises Frapetsus to a new level. Taking the production to audiences in North and West Wales can only sharpen Jack Llewellyn’s skills for writing comedy. The company’s first appearance in Aberystwyth attracted an entirely new audience to the town’s Arts Centre. A part of the company’s mission is “to get the Welsh public back in the theatres of Wales”. One hundred and fifty on a damp Monday is not half bad. They guffawed, chortled and cheered. “Bred in Heaven” brings together two generations of actors. Ieuan Rhys, Russell Gomer and Di Botcher are the basis of a classic comic situation. They inhabit the Aber stage with the ease of decades of experience. The movement is relaxed, the timing perfect. Jack Llewellyn himself and Tom McLeod are the easy-going youngsters whose roles switch between amiable sons and hunky rugby players. As for Sion Probert’s Maldwyn Novello Pughe there is no character on a Welsh stage quite like him. An actor who plays a multiplicity of supporting roles is a device that had been used more than once by Alan Ayckbourn. Katie Elizabeth-Payne plays all those people who nudge our lives along, but whom we rarely get to know. She is the woman who serves the drinks, the flight attendant, the travel rep, the policewoman. She is a rugby star’s girl friend leaning in a doorframe in a seductive t-shirt. She puts on a New Zealand accent with a whoop to it. Hers is an energising, comic presence and personality that gives the essentially episodic play a huge boost. Every piece of theatre writing is a springboard for the next. “Bred in Heaven” works on a classic comedy premise. Spouse deceives partner and is forced into a series of ever more complicated deceptions. The play is a mighty crowd-pleaser but three aspects would have strengthened it. Formally, eighteen scenes are too many for its playing time. Reducing the number would make the physical space of the stage work harder and concentrate the action. A comic protagonist must have something to lose. Another scheming husband, Basil Fawlty, works because his terror of Sybil is genuine. Beryl’s opening words may be “Bloody rugby” but we know that at heart she’s a softie. Sure enough, after the denouement of husband Mike being found out, she is quick to forgive. Comedy benefits enormously from a little dip in acid. Thirdly, comedy is utterly dependent on logic. Scene six takes place at a departure gate at Heathrow. A departure gate is a departure gate. Passengers are going to eyeball each other so that a line about going back to an Executive Lounge does not work. If the logic of situation does not have the hardness of steel, it is better gone. Frapetsus’ mission is “to take Welsh stories and issues to the Welsh public and the rest of the UK through small-scale touring productions.” With a cast of seven and luminaries like Michael Bogdanov and Sean Crowley on board, “Bred in Heaven” stretches the term “small-scale” about as far it goes. But a theatre that aims for contemporanaeity and popularity, that brings in new audiences, that plays from Cardiff to Caernarfon, is welcome. The closing night is Saturday 1st October. Jack Llewellyn deserves that night to be bought a very big drink indeed. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
This review has been read 2020 times There are 10 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
