The Browning version by Terence Rattigan

Burton Taylor Theatre between Tuesday 23rd and Saturday 27th October

This a student production that deals with the small, hidden tragedies that lurk behind the harmonious front we present to others. Andrew Crocker Harris is a classics teacher in a secondary school. Forced by a heart condition to leave his job he reflects on his life. He confronts the divergence between his ambitions as a young and exceptionally talented classics student and the reality of what his life has become. He is a second rate school teacher, hated by his pupils, who long ago lost the ability to inspire young minds, and who has little life left with which to mourn the lack of love in his marriage. Crocker Harris is superbly portrayed by Brian Mullin, who produces an extremely moving and genuine performance. Lydia Newhouse, who plays Mrs Crocker Harris, appears at first to be rather strained, but in fact the performance successfully brings out a cool front, behind which festers desperate bitterness. She feels her life has been a failure, and she blames this squarely on her husband. She consistently undermines him and, in one of her cruellest gestures, mocks the emotion felt by her husband on receiving a farewell gift of a translation of the Agamemnon from one of his pupils, Taplow. The shock felt by her lover, played by James Copp, on witnessing the vile hatred she directs towards her seemingly harmless and pitiable husband, mirrors that felt by the audience, but he fails to recognise the tragedy in her own life. Andrew Leveson gave a promising debut performance as the young schoolboy, Taplow. Other entertaining performances are given by Laurence Kalman as the headmaster, and Gareth Williams and Louise Dumican as the young, beautiful and happy couple that will replace the lonely school master and his wife. Unfortunately, in such a small theatre, the occasional mishap in performance, such as Lydia Newhouse's inability to walk in her shoes, can be somewhat distracting. However, these are just minor glitches on an otherwise well produced and tightly performed play.

Ann Hallam 23/10/01