9 – 13 July
Together with the longer A Song At Twilight, reviewed here earlier, these two shorter plays form Suite In Three Keys, a trilogy dating from the mid-1960s that represents Noël Coward’s last substantial work for the stage. This Orange Tree Theatre production is blessed with a trio of actors at the top of their game who demonstrate great versatility, for though all three plays are set in Coward’s familiar beau monde territory, there is very considerable variation both in characterisation and in mood.
Shadows Of The Evening is by far the most philosophical of the trilogy. Publisher George Hilgay (Stephen Boxer), together with his mistress Linda Savignac (Tara Fitzgerald) and his long-estranged wife Anne (Emma Fielding), are seen striving to come to terms with the sudden news that he is terminally ill. To borrow a phrase from the play, all three characters are ‘defensively articulate’ and there are perhaps moments where verbal dexterity is on show for its own sake. There are also moments when it is very clear that Hilgay is speaking in the unfiltered voice of the ailing playwright himself, facing his own mortality. But Shadows Of The Evening is not irredeemably bleak, for the mood is frequently lightened by Coward’s characteristic wit, though that is often of a rather mordant kind. In a touching portrayal of an unbeliever facing up to non-existence, Boxer endows George with a kind of wobbly courage, bolstered by the recognition that he has much to be grateful for. But the greatest strength of Shadows Of The Evening lies in its depiction of how Linda and Anne shift from mutual loathing through to an uneasy prickly truce and on to an eventual rekindling of their old friendship. In pitch-perfect performances Fitzgerald and Fielding make this somewhat rapid transformation utterly convincing.
Come into the Garden, Maud is the most high-spirited and broadly amusing of the three plays, featuring roles that unashamedly indulge in familiar stereotypes. Verner Conklin (Stephen Boxer) is a fabulously wealthy American businessman who is essentially a simple soul who loves playing golf but who has long fallen out of love with his brash, insensitive and self-centred wife Anna-Mary (Emma Fielding). His weary tolerance of her behaviour contrasts to great comic effect with her loudness and cloth-eared lack of class. These are undoubtedly clichéd depictions of Americans abroad, but no less enjoyable for that. Fielding has enormous fun depicting Anna-Mary as having all the emotional restraint of a spoilt toddler who has overdosed on sugary drinks, while Boxer brings a touch of James Stewart to Verner’s dry economy with words. An impoverished member of minor European royalty seducing a wealthy American is another tired cliché, but Tara Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Sicilian Princess Maud Caragnani is fresh and pleasingly individualised, and the scene where Maud and Verner decide to run off together has great charm. If Verner is being an old fool he is nevertheless an eminently forgivable one.
Throughout Suite In Three Keys the action is set in the same Swiss hotel, and as Felix, Steffan Rizzi is the same guitar-playing waiter. Felix’s grounded, commonsensical character acts as a counterpoint to the more flamboyant and self-indulgent behaviour of the guests that he so patiently serves. Steffan Rizzi also supplies very welcome musical intros to each of the three plays. Bravo!
★★★★☆ Mike Whitton, 12 July 2024
Photo credit: Rebecca Need-Meneer, Steve Gregson
