Enjoy – Review (Northern Echo)

EnjoyBy Steve PrattTHIS is, apparently, one of Alan Bennett’s favourite plays and also one of his least-performed. Both things are understandable.Anyone expecting a cosy Northern comedy like he’s given us before will get a rude – very rude – awakening. This is Bennett in a dark and bitter mood, still hilariously funny, but there’s a seriousness to the comedy.You can also see why directors might shy away from Enjoy with its mix of social comment, farce, fantasy and adult comedy.Co-directors Damian Cruden and Juliet Forster are brave enough to tackle it head on. And did I enjoy Enjoy? You bet I did. This is one of the best things that the Theatre Royal has done for a long time.It does everything you can want of a piece of theatre – makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you think and answers the age-old question: can a dead man have an erection?(I told you it was rude).The Cravens are the last inhabitants of a Leeds back-to-back in the middle of a redevelopment area.Wilfred is half-blind and half-paralysed since a hitand- run accident. Wife Connie is forgetful and obsessed with toilets.They have a daughter who works in the sex industry and a son who may well be related to the rather masculine Ms Craig. She’s a Big Brotherstyle observer, sent by the council to record the daily lives of these ordinary folk before their house becomes little more than an exhibit in a museum.Peter Nolan and Gilly Tompkins are both superb as the Cravens, leading a cast that doesn’t put a foot wrong on Nigel Hook’s set, which delivers the final coup de theatre at the end.

Enjoy – Director’s Notes

Enjoy – Director’s notesI haven’t directed any Alan Bennett before, so when Damian Cruden asked me to co-direct Enjoy with him as my first production at York Theatre Royal, I didn’t really know what to expect – I had no idea this play would turn out to be such a gift. It plays with you: you think you are in one kind of play and then find out you are in a completely different one. On paper, one can wonder if it will really work, but as soon as it is performed it makes all kinds of sense. By turns it is funny, quirky, moving, mysterious, painful, utterly absurd, truthful and farcical. Farce at its best is like abstract art – it is surreal and extreme, the language of dreams, and yet it’s underlying truth means that we watch and however bizarre it becomes we still recognise that yes, that is how things are – and that is the beauty of this play.A large part of the action involves the silent observation by individuals sent from “the council” to document the way of life of the inhabitants of the “last back-to-backs in Leeds”. But what happens when people are observed in their everyday life? Do they continue to behave normally? Do they present how they wish to be seen? Do they genuinely believe this version of themselves? Or, do they find themselves becoming more honest? Does it become impossible to maintain the normal façade of day-to-day existence, with all the usual self-censorship and coping mechanisms in place when there is someone watching you? The play also explores our relationship to the past, our fascination and glorification of it. What elements of our history, personal and social, do we choose to preserve and idealise? What do we choose to edit out? What happens when we suddenly find our own lives have become part of history? Throughout rehearsals we have had more questions than answers about this play, but I think this has led to an intriguing result.Writing as a recent Alan Bennett convert, I would encourage you to come and judge for yourselves.Juliet Forster,Co – director

Enjoy – Rehearsal Notes week 2

End of week two

Another week hunched over the stove of creativity and we find ourselves up against the tyranny of choice left to us by Mr. Bennett. The subtext is littered with tasty morsels offering up such a range of delicious choices for us and the actors to make. The reduction of these ingredients is the key to presenting this piece of work as a well balanced and flavoursome dish that retains its ability to surprise even the most experienced connoisseur of Mr. Bennett’s theatrical delicacies. As in all great plays Enjoy is deep with meaning and literary allusion, and uncovering the complex histories and relationships of the characters has been a joy. We have edited some of the piece but the language is rich and specific. Each individual has a clear voice and journey. The text offers enough insight to the nature of these people to allow us access to their truths without resorting to didactic clichés. It is inspiring and challenging and offers the company the chance to get their teeth into some meaty parts. With the costumes nearly all chosen and the end image of the play now nearly defined I feel we have come a long way in the first two weeks to a good understanding of the nature of the play. That said, there will be yet more to discover as we continue to develop the production over the coming fortnight.

We have equally enjoyed discovering the nature of the play’s developing form, starting in a very real – even naturalistic – place, a little like a good scotch broth (to further the culinary analogy) and developing through increasingly complex flavours in the fish and main courses to a quite extraordinarily theatrical dessert full of surprising flavours.

We are now in the third week of rehearsals and are about to polish the cutlery, decant the wine and lay the table ready for our guests. If this theatrical meal is as much fun to consume as it has been to make, then… Enjoy!

Damian Cruden
Director