Skip to main content

Review of Make Way For Lucia by John Van Druten at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

There have been a couple of television versions of the Mapp & Lucia novels by E. F. Benson over the years and irrespective of which generation version you might have seen, the roles of Miss Mapp and Mrs. Lucas were filled with some heavyweight performers. So taking on these roles could, in theory, be a challenge too much to live up to. However, that would be if the characters themselves were less the sum of the performer. These are great characters on paper as well as on stage and therefore Gena McCrystal (Miss Mapp) and Juliet O'Connor (Lucia) make them very much their own in the stage adaption by John Van Druten.

Lucia has arrived and breezed both into the town of Tilling and the musical chair roundabout of house rental that is want to occur here. Her rented property is Miss Mapp's and for some reason, Mapp fails to follow the routine of keeping away, constantly "popping in", so the battle lines are drawn.
Make Way for Lucia is the typical battle of supremacy in the upper echelons of society and set in the early 1930s, and it is tremendous if occasionally frivolous fun.

Ben Knight (Georgie) and Juliet O'Connor (Lucia)
As Mapp and Lucia, Gena and Juliet spark off one another with delight on occasion, and they leave the audience sometimes doubting who to side with, although I suspect that most, and perhaps intentionally, finally settle on the much less pompous Lucia.

As is to be expected from a stage play adapted from six books, there is a great deal of material to condense, and as such while the story itself is solid, many of the great fun characters are diminished somewhat by necessity. You leave with no doubt that you would have liked to have seen more of the "Scottish" Rev. Barlett played with scene stealing relish by Adrian Wyman, and those that have seen at least one of the television versions or even read the books, will know that there is more depth to biscuit chopping Diva Plaistow (Di Wyman).


Simon Rye (Major Flint) and Gena McCrystal (Miss Mapp)
Those that do get a good bit of stage time though are the wonderfully comic Ben Knight and his portrayal of Georgie, the campest ladies heartthrob you could wish to see. He has some glorious scenes both with Lucia, and with his love rival Major Flint, played with some rambunctiousness by Simon Rye, and very wisely overplaying the nature of the character to gain maximum humour.

The performance I saw was opening night and it suffered a little from infrequent hesitation from some of the cast, possibly down to opening night nerves and a slightly quiet audience. As the week passes, the audience will no doubt help lift the pace as well from the occasionally stalling delivery. Personally, I would have also liked to have seen the set a little more dressed to make it in keeping with the hint of more money on show. Even a carpet of some description would have glammed it up a touch. Costume wise though, it is a delight to the eye, and with the vast wave of seriously weird facial hair and wigs on display, delivers a visual delight adding very much to the comic value.

So, Make Way for Lucia entertains very much in its simple and light comedy. This isn't raucous stuff, but more traditional fair and not only does it genuinely suit The Playhouse stage, it also suits many of the performers who bring to life these larger than life characters. Great fun!

Performance reviewed: Tuesday 12th September 2017 at the Playhouse Theatre, Northampton.

Make Way for Lucia runs at the Playhouse Theatre, Northampton until Saturday 16th September 2017.

For full details of the Playhouse Theatre visit their website at http://www.theplayhousetheatre.net/
and can be found on Twitter @PlayhouseNTH or on Facebook at 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1104164619627708/


Photos: Vicki Holland

Popular posts from this blog

Review of War Horse at Milton Keynes Theatre

Michael Morpurgo's novel War Horse was published in 1982. While it was highly regarded and thought to be his best work, perhaps it eventually came to most people's attention when this striking play stormed the stage, thanks to the National Theatre, back in 2007. Now, War Horse arrives at Milton Keynes Theatre as part of another vast UK tour. Adapted by Nick Stafford in association with the award-winning Handspring Puppet Company, War Horse tells the story of the First World War through the eyes of one horse, Joey, sold for a record price from a family battle but eventually shipped off to war-torn France much to the distress of his original owner, 16-year old Albert. The sprawling and epic story should take some staging, but the vast cast, beautiful structure, stunning folk music and, of course, what this play has become known for, magnificent puppetry, all bring the story to life. This production, directed by Tom Morris and revival director Katie Henry, is a magnificent thin...

Review of The Rocky Horror Show at Milton Keynes Theatre

Richard O’Brien’s anarchic, surreal, and often incomprehensible musical, The Rocky Horror Show , has captivated audiences for over fifty years now. With this new tour, it feels as fresh and unpredictable as if it had just emerged from O’Brien's vivid imagination yesterday. While another review might seem unnecessary given the countless dressed-up fans who fill every theatre it visits, let’s go ahead and write one anyway. The Rocky Horror Show follows the adventures of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple. On a dark and stormy November evening, they run into car trouble and seek refuge at a mysterious castle reminiscent of Frankenstein’s. There, they encounter the eccentric handyman Riff-Raff, the outrageous scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter, and a host of other bizarre characters. What unfolds is a science fiction B-movie narrative that is at times coherent and at other times bewildering — yet somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter. I first saw The Rocky Horror Show in 2019 and exper...

Review of Immune by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The cover note for the script of Oladipo Agboluaje's Immune describes it as "a challenging science fiction play with a large cast", and the word challenging in this case is not a lie. This is a fast paced, multi-cast changing script which leaves little room for error for its young cast in the performance. If the script isn't enough to handle for the young performers, director Christopher Elmer-Gorry and designer Carl Davies have made the situation even more complex for the actors with the set and stage work. Having to manhandle great panels on wheels and a huge cube, which also splits in two occasionally, during scene changes requires skill, coordination and cooperation of a high level. As if all this is not enough, the actual story is epic enough for the relatively small stage of the Royal. Attempting to form an apocalyptic world (albeit only happening in Plymouth) offers challenges in itself, but Agboluaje's script does that in a sort of apocalypse in the teac...