Get Out More...............................Theatre Review

ENJOY (Birmingham Rep, until November 15)

13-11-2008

The Birmingham Rep has enjoyed sell-outs every night this week for the revival of Alan Bennett’s 1980 play Enjoy. Paula Elenor found much to enjoy in Alison Steadman’s performance, but she is worried about attracting the attentions of “angry old women!”

If you were in any doubt about the versatility and scope of Alison Steadman’s acting abilities, this show will dispel them straight away. I left the theatre quite simply stunned and moved by her compelling performance of Mam – the last inhabitant of a row of Leeds back-to-back houses awaiting the demolition team and re-housing in a new maisonette.

Yes, Steadman is the star of the show – and her character the pivot of the play – but the moments of comedic brilliance, poignancy and dramatic revelation would not have been possible without her support – in particular, TV and Shakespearean old hand David Troughton as her disabled, controlling husband Wilf, and Carol Macready (also a TV regular) as helpful/interfering neighbour, Mrs Clegg.

Alan Bennett creates opportunities for his actors to realise brilliant set pieces of absurd, hilarious farce, and believe me, Steadman and Macready’s spot on timing and delivery did full justice to his writing.

On the surface it would appear that Troughton has drawn the short straw in his role as Wilf – isn’t he is just a grumpy, humourless foil for the delightful whimsical female leads Alan Bennett is so famous for?

Well, in many ways this is an over-simplification of Bennett’s dramatic modus- operandi.

The day-to-day routines and preoccupations of his characters externalise their emotional struggles and fragilities.

Troughton’s character is a powerful, seething mass of pent-up range and frustration, channelled through the consumption of porn, occasional outbursts of violence (physical and verbal) and comforting self-delusions.

He really does believe that his beloved daughter is a jet-setting PA for a high powered executive, and, despite evidence to the contrary, not a glamour model and prostitute!

Left physically disabled by a hit and run driver, he is himself a victim of a more subtle form of bullying by his wife, who sees him as an object of dirt in her relentless war against household filth – particularly in the vicinity of the toilet!!. And believe me, the women in his life do not leave him with much dignity!

Our response to Wilf at the end is ambiguous. Yes, he has driven his gay son away from the family home, and he has held his wife back – she could have singing in local choirs and attending “classy” coffee mornings if it hadn’t been for him.

But at the end, he is alone and paralysed – the victim of crime and neglect, his illusions dissipated. Curiously, it is his rejected, despised son, who gives him some friendship in his final years.

Characteristically, Bennett does find moments of kindness and comfort in quite a bleak world.

Now, I going to say something that runs the risk of offending many people – mainly members of the Alan Bennett Appreciation Society. In case your are not familiar with this august body – it consists mainly of middle-aged and older actresses – grateful for the amount of work his plays and screenplays bring their way – and, of course, his fan base – older, refined ladies who enjoy his whimsical observational humour and can see how he values their concerns – and, indeed, their very existence. We are, of course, in a very ageist society.

But I have checked the demographics of The Stirrer’s readership and feel some confidence that I not be hit and run over by a silver-headed scooter driver when I go out of my door, so here goes.

I really don’t like the work of Alan Bennett. There, I have said it.

I know that he is a national treasure and that many can find no fault with him. I acknowledge his complexity, wit and incredible ear for everyday speech. I appreciate his take on class, gender and sexuality. But I simply find the tone and the basis of his many of his gags – visual and verbal – irritating and juvenile.

Sorry, but that’s how it is.

However, this is probably my problem and not that of others. My quibbles were not shared by the audience on press night. They really were enjoying Alan Bennett’s script as well as Alison Steadman’s performance.

Go on, if you can get a set - Enjoy!

Booking details at www.birmingham-rep.co.uk