Quartet
By Ronald Harwood
Directed by Joe Harmston
At Richmond Theatre 12th – 17th July
Timothy West (Wilfred Bond) and Susannah York (Jean Horton) headline this revival of Ronald Harwood’s ‘Quartet’. They are supported by Michael Jayston (Reginald Paget) and Gwen Taylor (Cecily Robson).
The play is set in a home for retried musician and is supported by an impoverished musicians charity. The three current inmates, played by Wilfred Bond, Reginald Paget and Cecily Robson have known each other for years and are as dotty as can be. Ms Taylor is superb as this rather maternal and very cuddly one time singer Cecily Robson. Life for her has taken on a new lease as she has become involved with the Gala committee; she raises the spirits of the male inmates and they in turn manage to keep her just the right side of dottiness so that she doesn’t get carted away to the loony bin. At one time in the past they had all had their moment of glory singing ‘Rigoletto’ of which the CD has been re-released and apart from the fame there is the promise of the royalty cheque, which although small is at least tangible proof of their worth. Into this cosy little nook then steps Jean Horton, the femme fatale of the quartet. Once, very briefly, married to the Reginald Paget and then to a host of other notables and once a great shinning star that has now been left destitute and reliant upon the charity. It is very easy to imagine the effect on this closed community as they all come to turns with this orogeny in their world.
The play deals superbly with the world of the ‘what was once past’ world. It is a scenario that we all have to deal with at some time in our lives, or rather the way that we meet this situation can turn it from a problem to a new challenge. I am sure that we all have regrets as we grow older, personally I am never too sure which is worse, what we have done and shouldn’t have or what we didn’t do and should have done. Falls always hurt most those people who fall the greatest, and when that decline is sudden and unexpected the hurt can be greater still.
There are many of laughs in this play and the set is very nicely designed and I have a great deal of admiration for the actors, who have had very successful careers and are still capable of producing excellent performances, but somehow I was left unfulfilled by the evening. On reflection, the ending, towards which the play been carefully constructed, didn’t work and I am not sure it could have worked. Perhaps the world of the past needs to remain a foreign world, visited, infrequently, only by our memories.
“QUARTET” will play at Richmond Theatre (12-17 July), Theatre Royal Nottingham (19-24 July), Milton Keynes Theatre (26-31 July), Theatre Royal Norwich (9-14 August), Oxford Playhouse (16-21 August) and Malvern Festival Theatre (23-28 August).
Reviewed by Evan Rule
