Fallen Angels - Coward’s Classic

 

Haven't posted for a few weeks, so I thought I'd try something a bit different. This is my first bash at a play review, and it's Fallen Angels performed by Intimate Theatre.

Intimate Theatre staged their version of Noel Coward’s ‘Fallen Angels’ at the George Hotel in Lichfield on the 13^th April.

  This was a ‘double first’ evening for me, it was the first time I had seen an 'Intimate' production and the first time I had seen any of Coward’s work performed.

  In fact, my knowledge of Coward is pretty limited to smoking jackets and ‘Don’t put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington,’ so I was looking forward to this play.

  With a minimum of props, and the song‘La Mer’ playing in the background, the Garrick Suite was transformed into 1950s elegance.

  The story centres on two young friends, Julia and Jane, whose husbands Fred and Willie prefer the Golf course to their wives. The girls receive a post card from a mysterious Frenchman, Maurice Duclos (charmingly played by Ian Henderson), whom they both had a fling with before married life, and who is returning to stay in London.

  With the guys away on a golfing weekend, Jane joins Julia at her flat for dinner, where they agree to push their stuffy husbands aside and surrender to the Gallic charms of Maurice, when he arrives. However, the drinks are flowing, and a tipsy (but bitchy) rivalry, is soon in full swing.

   The girls are played to perfection; Nicola Bannister showed clever timing as ice maiden Jane, who melts into drunken hysterics after numerous glasses of fizz, while Amanda Robertson excelled as the elegant – but neglected – Julia.

  Robin Lewitt gave a stylish portrayal of Julia’s golf loving, frustrated husband Fred, and Richard Bannister played the priggish Willy (complete with Oxford bags) to full bombastic effect.  

  

   To say any more would spoil the story, but a special mention must be made of Sue Evans who plays Saunders, the knowing maid, who certainly has the edge over her naïve employers.

  This was an enjoyable performance, and I hope to see more of Intimate Theatre’s productions in the near future.