The Stage Review – If Only The Lonely Were Home

If Only the Lonely Were Home

by Kevin Berry

Wendy Harris saw Finegan Kruckemeyer’s The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy at the ASSITEJ world children’s theatre festival in Australia, where it had a tremendous reception, and she immediately asked him to write a play specially for Tutti Frutti. She wanted a sort of love story for children – and here it is.

Megan Brooks (Penny) and Jason James (The Lonely) in If Only the Lonely Were Home at York Theatre RoyalPhoto: Peter Byrne

The Tasmanian writer has a quirky, audacious, wonderfully unfettered way of looking at life that is fully in tune with children’s thinking. His verbal imagery is delectable. Townsfolk bring along the things they love – a photo of the wind, some lightning in a jar – marvellous.

Jason James plays The Lonely, a youngster who cannot make friends. He would dearly love to be friends with Penny, played by Megan Brooks. Then someone falls off a bike, Lonely’s dog is blamed and Lonely stays home rather than face the world. Will he ever come out?

Melancholy is kept in check. This is a tale with charm, humour and real feeling. It does not preach but it does find a way.

James appeals as Lonely and in no way is his character a wimp. He knits but really very badly and his decidedly eccentric jumpers and scarves litter the stage. Megan Brooks is a lively, free-wheeling presence. They each dance but their dancing could be better.

Composer Ivan Stott gives the actors a captivating string soundtrack, with Brooks playing live violin, and some really smashing songs. The title song is an immediate, sing-along hit.

View the original article here: http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/23999/if-only-the-lonely-were-home

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 – Review (Scunthorpe Telegraph)

Alan Bennett’s gritty interpretation of working class life, based in Leeds, is another powerful performance at York’s Theatre Royal which captivated the audience with the gripping storyline.

Enjoy focuses on the lives of a couple Wilf (played by Peter Nolan) and Connie (Gilly Tomkins) and portrays the ups and downs of living in one of the last ‘back to back’ homes in Leeds, which has not seen a lick of paint or new furnishings for years, and is next in line to be knocked down, Wilf and Connie are trying to cling to the past, whilst at the same time realising the need to move on into 21st century living.

Enjoy looks at life of a dysfunctional family with some extremely funny ‘laugh out loud’ moments, whilst at the same time touching on more serious issues affecting the lives of Wilf and Connie.

The rest of the cast add interest and introduce thought provoking topics such as class values, sexual politics and issues we all have to face in today’s society.

The play has many twists and turns and makes for another ‘must-see’ performance at the Theatre Royal, York.

Lynn Rogers – Scunthorpe Telegraph