A Wedding Story, by Bryony Lavery
Playhouse until Saturday 22nd

When a play is titled A Wedding Story, associations with tradition and unconditional love typically follow. Bryony Lavery’s interpretation includes these implicit elements, but her wedding story is hardly a traditional tale.

Directed by Annie Castledine, A Wedding Story is a dark, yet witty collection of the misconceptions involved with the “sentence” of marriage. Sally is a single woman who understands marriage as a sacrifice rather than a union. Evelyn and Peter, her parents, are involved in a classic marriage that in no way personifies stale love. A test of that love comes in the form of an illness, robbing Evelyn of her identity.

A chance encounter finds Sally in a bathroom stall with Grace, an American woman she meets at a wedding reception. Their distaste for the traditional love story entices a romance that ultimately forces Sally to re-evaluate her programmed thoughts on love and marriage.

The topical simplicity of this play’s plot leaves room for its themes to be treated in a more complex manner. Castledine’s set is fixed, an indicator that the drama set in front of it is enough to entertain the audience. The actors are sometimes on stage all at once, even though the scene may only call for one or two of the characters. While a development between two characters is taking place, for example, two other characters will be dormant, but at the mention of their name, will interact in the scene. This stage interaction is not seen in daily life; it is an effect the director uses to show how the plot is entirely dependent on the connection between the characters.

The actors turn the script into onstage reality with ease, and the audience becomes quickly familiar with the characters’ motives and feelings. Abigail Hercules, as Sally, narrates throughout the play, but not necessarily in her own perspective. Her general objectivity was frequently tinged with tantalising glimpses of her character’s feelings and justifications.

A Wedding Story proves to be a performance of unexpected emotion, with characters facing heavy drama one minute and light wit the next. Loaded with intelligible humour, this play tackles the stereotypes surrounding weddings and commitment with light-hearted skill. For a non-traditional look at a traditional theme, this play comes highly recommended.

Rachael Liberman, 19 / 9 / 01