This revival stars Alison Steadman and David Troughton as 'Mam' and 'Dad' who occasionally call each other by their real names of Connie and Wilfred. They have lived all their married life in the same back-to-back house in Leeds and together occupy that private hell of querulous married life. Connie is slowly losing her memory which is driving Wilf to distraction. They share the house with their tough-as-nails daughter Linda who anyone with half an eye could see has a baser career than being a company secretary but whom Wilf idolises. Connie lingers over memories of a vanished son who was driven out years ago for an unnamed but fairly obvious moral transgression.
Connie and Wilf are awaiting being re-housed in a new maisonette but are visited instead by the mysterious 'Ms. Craig', a silent social worker sent by the council to silently observe their 'everyday' actions to make sure the council is aware of all their needs. 'Ms. Craig' - who everyone must surely know the real identity of - silently watches as each of them lays bare the state of their marriage and their lives as well as watching Linda having sex on the living room carpet. The second half shows how
surprisingly contemporary the play feels with the appearance of subsequent characters - the local yob and the domineering next-door neighbour - who are all followed by their own observer, well dressed office-type Big Brothers who simply record what is happening and do not get involved even when the yob beats up Wilf or Connie and the neighbour attempt to discover whether Wilf's erection proves he is dead or alive. The denouement is even more Orwellian - Connie and Wilf will be re-housed - but in their own house which is going to be dismantled and reassembled in a heritage theme park and where they will live out their days as exhibits.On the whole I enjoyed it but felt Bennett's ambition didn't quite manage to translate into a good overall play. I certainly enjoyed all of his social commentary and the slow dessication of Connie
and Wilf's lives but Bennett's view is always so insular that I was desperate for a breath of fresh air to get out of his voyeuristic view on shut-in lives. At times the writing reminded me of Orton in dotage - all the characters love to talk in ways they feel will impress, speaking phrases as if quoting them verbatim from articles read in colour supplements.Alison Steadman was a marvellous Connie, beautifully observed and seemingly channelling Thora Hird. Her Connie was Kath from ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE approaching senility as well as an early sketch for his "Talking Heads" play A CREAM CRACKER UNDER THE SOFA. Alison Steadman perfectly captured the humour in Connie as well as the tragedy of a woman sinking into memory loss.
She was matched by a great performance of frustrated anguish from David Troughton. His Wilfred is a bully, a misogynist and as we find out later an incestuous father but Troughton made him into a believable character as much stranded at the end of the play as Connie but given a lease of life by a view from a hospital window.
The supporting performances hardly matched the
ir fine work with overblown brassy performances from Josie Walker as the cold-eyed prostitute daughter and Carol Gillespie as the bossy neighbour. It made me wonder how these roles were played in the original production by the late Susan Littler and Liz Smith. Both I feel would have brought some much needed shading to the parts. Only in her last scene did Walker vary the EMMERDALE trampy act, suggesting a wounded soul beneath the otherwise two dimensional caricature.Christopher Luscombe's direction became a bit unfocused at the end leaving the play to drift off rather than hit home but Janet Bird's design was a constant source of pleasure. In the end I found it a funny, haunting play which could have done with a stronger overall vision.
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