Review of At the Torch from the theatre dance and drama in Wales web site

At the Torch

Torch Theatre- One for the Road , Torch Theatre, Milford Haven , February 6, 2003

Dennis Cain is facing a watershed. Middle age looms as he and his wife Pauline host a small dinner party to celebrate his birthday. Dennis’ mate Roger and wife Jane are the guests.

Awaiting their arrival, tinny in hand, Dennis takes stock of his mundane life. With wife, child, car and a mortgage on a little box of a dormer bungalow on a Merseyside executive housing estate, an impromptu bid for the freedom of the open road beckons seductively.

Will he hitch a ride to a hippy lifestyle, or will his wife and well-meaning friends frustrate his attempts to solve his midlife crisis?

Willy Russell’s ‘One for the Road’ currently playing at Milford Haven’s Torch Theatre, explores Dennis’ dilemma.
‘One for the Road’ contains some great jokes and hilarious scenes, as the award-winning author exposes all our foibles with humour and compassion.

Liam Tobin as Dennis gets straight to the nitty gritty, revealing a sensitive man with a deep sense of the absurd about the human condition. Dennis comes complete with the famed Liverpudlian self-deprecating wit.

Momentum in the first act is slow, but there is a superb episode between Jane and Dennis. Dane dons the mantle of amateur psychologist, and suggests to Dennis that his deviant (deviant by the standards of the social climbers on The Estate) behaviour is caused by, ahem, a male dysfunctional problem in the marriage bed.

Sarah Withe’s performance as The Estate’s arbiter of style, the venomous Jane, is masterly. Beneath her armour-plated assertiveness, there also lies the hippy child of yesteryear.

Sarah has a difficult brief as the aspirational Jane. Jane aims to be posh, but hasn’t entirely eliminated her Liverpudlian origins, and so speaks with a kind of refined scouse, which works well.

In contract, with Lisa George’s Pauline, what you see is what you get – a chirpy Liver bird with a heart of gold, content with her life on The Estate (not to be confused with a Council Estate, the residents would have you know).
Huw Bevan plays Jane’s put upon husband Roger with just the right touch of self-effacement and humility. But beneath his modest demeanor, he also leads a secret life of sexual prowess amidst the sedate atmosphere of The Estate. Not for nothing is he called Roger.

Designer Sean Crowley’s lounge set evokes the one upmanship and neighbour watch rampant in the middle class community…
Light, funny, but not fluffy. ‘One for the Road’ is a dramatic contrast to the Torch’s recent, award-winning production of the black comedy ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’.

Superbly crafted by Willy Russell, and directed by Peter Doran, with wonderful one liners and comic scenes reminiscent of a Whitehall farce, ‘One for the Road’ runs until Saturday 15 February.

Reviewed by: Vivien Stoddart

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At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters (27 April 2012)
At the Torch- reviewed by Victor Hallett (09 June 2011)
At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters (14 May 2011)
At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters (15 December 2010)
At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters (11 October 2010)
At the Torch- reviewed by Tim Barrett (19 August 2010)
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At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters (07 August 2009)
At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters (04 August 2009)
At the Torch- reviewed by Adam Somerset (26 April 2009)
At the Torch- reviewed by Tim Barrett (12 December 2008)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (05 April 2008)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (04 December 2006)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (25 October 2006)
At the Torch- reviewed by Michael Kelligan (20 July 2006)
At the Torch- reviewed by Michael Kelligan (09 March 2006)
At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters, The Stage (16 February 2006)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (12 February 2006)
At the Torch- reviewed by Terry Johnson, The Stage (15 October 2005)
At the Torch- reviewed by Fiona Phillips (12 October 2005)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (06 October 2005)
At the Torch- reviewed by Simon Carr. Western Telegraph (09 December 2004)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (23 October 2004)
At the Torch- reviewed by Emma Jones, Western Telegraph (21 October 2004)
At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Walters, Milford Mercury (21 October 2004)
At the Torch- reviewed by Graham Williams (10 March 2004)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (06 February 2004)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (10 February 2003)
At the Torch- reviewed by Jenny Hanson, Tenby Observer (05 February 2003)
At the Torch- reviewed by ANDREW DAVIES, TENBY OBSERVER (31 January 2003)
At the Torch- reviewed by Viv Stoddart, The Stage (06 December 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (06 December 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by JENNY HANSON (06 December 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by ANDREW DAVIES, TENBY OBSERVER (06 December 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Assorted Edinburgh papers (02 August 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Zoe Hewett (26 March 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Zoe Hewett (09 March 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Michael Kelligan (09 March 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Rebecca Nesvet (28 February 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Viv Stoddart, The Stage (21 February 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Andrews Davies (15 February 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by MILFORD & WEST WALES MERCURY (15 February 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Keith Johnson, Western Telegaph (13 February 2002)
At the Torch- reviewed by Tenby Observer (07 December 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Viv Stoddart, Milford Mercury (07 December 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Janet Bott (07 December 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Fiona Phillips (05 December 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Vivien Stoddart (26 October 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (11 September 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (09 August 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Victoria Cooper (10 March 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Elaine Atack (03 March 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Rebecca Nesvett (28 February 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Vivien Stoddart (The Stage) (15 February 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (14 February 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by Ron Waters (08 February 2001)
At the Torch- reviewed by David Adams (21 October 2000)

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