Elgar And Alice

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Elgar is certainly a milestone worth celebrating. His works have established themselves as part of the national consciousness. His life, as far as I knew, was not anything particularly remarkable.

Theatre without drama is a rather sterile and uninteresting medium. So it is with this play. It is true that Elgar and his wife had an unusual relationship, it is true that Elgar enjoyed a number of significant close friendships with other women, it is true that Elgar composed a number of works. These things together do not make for a vibrant and involving drama.

The quality of the script is patchy to say the least. The dialogue is clunky and over-reliant on puns. The characterisation does not have the smack of absolute authenticity necessary for a piece based around real people.

The performances was also somewhat less than I had expected. Gerald Harper seemed to be going through the motions as Elgar – suitably irascible, but never truly in command of the stage. Janet Hargreaves had some lovely touches as his wife but the writing limited her scope for quality acting.

Overall, this was a pleasant evening but nothing special. The material details of Elgar’s life could well make an acceptable television documentary with dramatic interludes but it is not the stuff of drama.

Let us celebrate Elgar through his works – leave his life to the biographers.

Simon Tavener (DI Reviewer), 20/06/07

---