21 – 25 February
I must admit that I did for a moment think this play was a metaphor for Brexit; a couple abandoning the present as far as they could in order to live in the nostalgic bubble of a 1950s world which was to a large extent created by the unregulated engine of advertising. A glancing reference to the television series, Madmen, did nothing to dispel the notion. However, writer Laura Wade, would seem to have subtler tasting fish to fry.
Judy and Johnny are living out their ‘cosplay’ fantasy of the perfect 50’s home life in which breadwinner, Johnny, (Neil McDermott) is sent off and welcomed back each day by his perfect wife (Jessica Ransom) who busies her day in their perfect home dressed in her perfect outfit, complete with heels, in the kitchen. Now there is a line in the epilogue of Shaw’s St Joan when the 20thC papal emissary, dressed in frock coat, is laughed at by the mediaeval group in the Dauphin’s bedchamber for wearing fancy dress; he replies, ‘All dress is fancy is it not?’ Indeed, and with that in mind the crinolines and swing dresses of the ‘New Look’ are no more ‘fancy dress’ than whatever passes for the style of the moment. The point Ms Wade is making comes down to choice, more importantly a choice autonomously made. Judy is a graduate with earning potential who chooses the life of a home-maker with, as she says, “Having time to clean behind things”. It’s a choice that her mother, Sylvia (Diane Keen) who comes from a generation that has fought against such stereotypes, sees as an abandonment of all the advances that feminism has brought about in both home and workplace.
However all is not perfect as the fantasy lifestyle is only possible because it turns out that Judy has been surreptitiously raiding the couple’s savings to sustain the unsustainable. Moreover their Rockabilly chums, Fran (Cassie Bradley) and Marcus (Matthew Douglas) have also come a cropper under the dark cloud of modern sensibilities because ‘touchy feely’ Marcus is being hauled over the coals for ‘inappropriate’ behaviour with a work colleague.
With the lifestyle beginning to unravel Judy admits, “I don’t know who I am without the fifties”, suggesting Ms Wade has half an eye on identity as one of her themes. That being so there is more going on than a simple comedy of manners would suggest. The upbeat delivery, which in places was more the style we’d expect in a farce, I found unnecessary, with all the comedy coming from the characters and situation. That said, director and cast have delivered a thought provoking and entertaining show which tickles the nostalgia bone without tempting us to wallow in an imagined past.
★★★★☆ Graham Wyles, 22nd February, 2023
Photo credit: Jack Merriman
