The Graduate

by Terry Johnson

April 9 - 12 2008

Directed by

Bob Ryder

Programme note: "The Graduate was the first novel written by Charles Webb, published in 1963, not long after his own college graduation.  It was made into a hugely  successful film in 1967, winning a host of Oscar nominations.  The style of the novel is unusual, telling the reader nothing about what the characters think or feel, only what they say and do.  It’s perfect material for a film screenplay - and in fact the film is remarkably close to the book.  As well as for its great screen performances, the film is widely remembered for the witty direction of Mike Nichols, which won him an Oscar, and the atmospheric Simon and Garfunkel music used in the soundtrack.

Terry Johnson’s stage adaptation was first performed in 2000.  It too draws closely on the novel, though with an eye to the different challenges of live stage performance compared with film.  The play has enjoyed great success in the West End and on Broadway.  It has only very recently become available for wider performance and we are delighted to be staging one of the first productions outside the professional theatre."

Cast

Barrie Jerram 

Benjamin Braddock is 21, and is disillusioned with life and his family.  At a party to celebrate his recent graduation he is seduced by the middle-aged and alcoholic Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's best friend.  Their passionate affair continues throughout the summer.  When Elaine, the Robinson's daughter, returns from college Ben is forced to date her and despite his best attempts to the contrary falls in love with her.  This does not go down well with the mother and feathers fly.  Ben stalks, woos and even kidnaps her at her wedding thus helping Elaine to break the bonds of parental control that have stopped her being her own person and making decisions.

As one has come to expect from Bob Ryder his direction was solid and well thought out.  He was well supported by the technical team who provided a simple but effective all-purpose set that was sympathetically lit.  The production moved at a good pace, with Bob Ryder managing to elicit several finely acted performances and two outstanding ones.  As Ben's parents Natalie Colgate and Tony Brownings played well together with some good comic touches with Colgate excelling in the scene in the pychiatrist's office.  Browning's performance was probably the best I have seen from him.  Mark Best's contribution as Mr. Robinson was both funny and touching particularly on discovering the adulterous treachery of Ben with is wife.  Morgan Jones played Elaine, capturing well the fragility and simplicity of the character.  Rols Ham-Riche had a quartet of small parts that were well played with each being given its own character.  But it is with the two main rôles that the success of the play falls on.

As the predatory, controlling Mrs. Robinson, Gill Etter's interpretation was spot on.  In the seduction scene she was cold and distant - the character takes but does not give.  Etter extracted fully the humour of the part as well as the bitterness and anger as the relationship with Ben turns sour.  Her handling of the added scene with Elaine when they are both drunk was handled with sensitivity and did not go over the top.  Guy Steddon continues to astound with his performances and as Ben he gave a masterly one.  His interpretation was his own and owed nothing to the film.  Watching him progress form confused, gauche and naive Ben - with morose and laconic mood swings via manic hysteria - to a form of maturity, as he becomes decisive and determined was a treasure chest of many comic gems.

Adapting this '60s movie classic for the stage, Terry Johnson ha returned to the original novel for extra scenes.  Whilst most worked the final scene is a bit of a damp squib compared to the film's ending where the runaway couple are looking out of the back of the bus and wondering what the hell they were letting themselves in for.  Sitting on a bed eating out of a box of Cherios lacked the dramatic impact.  

Words and Music

Gordon Bull

In particular tribute must be paid to the lighting design by Mike Medway who produced an excellent scheme for handling the nude scene by using deep purple and silhouette so that Mrs. Robinson [Gill Etter] may or may not have been all she appeared, in order to seduce Ben - excellently cast and played by Guy Steddon.  I liked his tête-à-têtes with girlfriend Elaine [Morgan Jones] as he tries to retain her affection after the brief fallen encounter with her mother; and his confession to her father [Mark Best].  The young couple made good sense of the interplay.

Instead of the film music, which used Scarborough Fair, incidental music was provided which nicely heightened the situation.  For a few moments at the wedding, the artful stripper [Helen Brewster] played a secondary rôle a guest, while Elaine is almost persuaded to take the man chosen by her parents.  But as in all good stories, Ben gets his girl in the end as they rush off together.

The whole paly was well devised by Bob Ryder and small parts were confidently taken by Rols Ham-Riche.  

Sam Woodman

But where to start?

Directed by Bob Ryder, the play was clever, poignant, laugh-out-loud funny and very, very good indeed - certainly one of Wick's best productions in the last couple of years.  The minimalist set, often comprising just a couple of items of furniture, and blinds as back-drop, was expertly employed, with Mike Medway's lighting helping to transform the stage from bedroom, to hotel lobby, to hotel room, to church vestry.  Accents can so often pose a stumbling block, yet not here - Guy Steddon's was solid throughout and Gill Etter's faultless.

Perhaps not a show for the faint-hearted or easily offended, the more risqué moments were well handled and managed to be rude where the situation demanded, while managing to shock just enough without being down-right coarse - a clever balancing.  The two lead players were well supported by the other cast members, and the performance went off without a hitch.  An hilarious script played out by a talented cast was a recipe for success and The Graduate certainly didn't disappoint.

Not Now Darling

by
John Chapman
&
Ray Cooney

July 2 - 5 2008

Directed by

John Garland

JG wrote: "It doesn't seem fashionable to admit enjoying Ray Cooney plays any more.  They are not exactly 'politically correct' - and this one, written 40 years ago, has all the ingredients of a Carry On film, combining saucy innuendo with physical comedy.  Cooney is a master of the farce genre and this play is one of his funniest, with no let-up in the action once it begins.  Whilst it may seem to celebrate immoral behaviour, what is wrong, in a life where we have to be serous most of the time, with suspending our morals for a couple of hours and laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

Do enjoy it ... you know you want to!"

Barrie Jerram

Bob Ryder and Ian White stand out as actors totally tuned into each other.  As the long-suffering secretary, Lyn Fernee subtly conveys the character's sexual repression and longing, while Sophie Lane shows great promise with an assured performance.

Sam Woodman

Set in a plush Mayfair fashion house, the story revolved around coats made form mink, rabbit and beaver, with a few saucy affairs thrown in for good measure.  Bob Ryder was simply outstanding as the caddish furrier Gilbert Bodley, embroiled in a web of extra-marital liaisons and desperately trying to buy his mistress a coat with husband Harry's [Peter Thompson] unwitting assistance.  With a turn that was part Terry Tomas, part Leslie Phillips and, crucially, largely Bob Ryder, the actor stole the stage and the show was his performance.  Ian White proved a perfect foil as his more prudish - but ultimately corruptible - business partner Arnold Crouch, offering impeccable comic timing and a performance that was in no way overshadowed.  Ryder and White were ably supported by Amanda Urwin-Mann and Sophie Lane, as Gilbert's lust-interest Janie McMichael and secretary Sue Lawson.

Gilbert and Arnold's loyal secretary Miss Tipdale [Lyn Fernee] was driven mad trying to clear up the pair's mess., including underwear disappearing out of the fourth-floor window on ore than one occasion.  As if things weren't complicate enough, Gilbert's wife Maud [Judith Berrill] entered the scene - the poor victim of her husband's philandering, until the final scene, at least.  Add to all that an hilarious sub-plot with Commander Frencham [Ray Hopper] and his wife [Maggi Pierce], desperate for her bespoke fur coat, and Not Now, Darling full of spoils and thrills.

Not dissimilar in style to the Carry On films, although with less of a nudge-nudge, wink-wink, saucy seaside postcard approach, Wick Theatre Company's latest production left audiences headingbhome with aching sides.

Remote Goat

Jill Lawrie

The play opens to the sounds of Love and Marriage and the substantial set depicts the premises of a posh London salon in the 60s Bodley & Crouch furriers, complete with balconied windows and chaise longue.  Gilbert Bodley [played by Bob Ryder] and Arnold Crouch [Ian White] are both superb with great chemistry between them - Gilbert being the dapper silver-tongued charmer and would-be philanderer, contrasted by the rather gauche but great character of Arnold Couch.

This is a quick-fire comedy full of saucy clichés, innuendos, much door-slamming and terrific timing.  The female leads are extremely attractive, a couple of them spending most of the evening in their underwear!   The four characters of Janie McMichael [Amanda Urwin-Mann] Miss Tipdale [Lyn Fernee] Sue Lawson [Sophie Lane] and Maude Bodley [Judith Berrill] - with their hilarious antics - are great fun.

The action follows the exploits of various couples, the 'mink coat' and the long suffering secretary.  As the farce unfolds, chaos ensues, items of clothing including underwear get thrown from the window - landing on buses, flagpoles etc.  The absurdity escalates when Mrs. Bodley makes an unscheduled return from holiday causing more shenanigans leading to the ultimate quote "Oh what a tangled web we weave.

A Grimm Night for
Hans Christian Anderson

by
Sue Gordon

August 7 - 9 2008

Directed by

Mark Best