THREE SHORT PLAYS

Phoenix Theatre Company at Christ Church

12.02.10

Chekhov very much the man of the moment – we celebrated his 150th birthday just the other week.

And it was his “Celebration”, a Joke in One Act, which was top of the bill in this pick'n'mix programme.

Successful banker Shipuchin [Neil Smith] is a stickler for style, but his world crashes round his ears, thanks to the interventions of his clerk – Andy Millward, holding our attention with his grumpy misogyny – and two women, his larger than life windbag wife [ a nice character study by Joan Lanario ] and a hilariously determined Irish suppliant [Faye Armstrong]. Michael Lewis's production convincingly charted Shipuchin's descent into weary, nervous collapse.

Hamlet's famous question is referenced in the Chekhov. We were up to speed with it, since we'd just seen Stoppard's brilliantly filleted Shakespeare, in which Millward played a surly Dane, supported by a hard-working cast including Leila Francis as both Gertrude and Ophelia, Reg Peters as a tragic Laertes, and Chris Wright as practically everyone else. No attempt at the world record here, with a deliberate pace marked by the slow change of scene, and a surreal trumpeter playing random hits from the repertoire. I liked the chairs for the encore, though here, I think, a manic pace is de rigueur.

The great Russian master of the 19th Century. The greatest dramatist ever, through the eyes of one of the 20th century finest dramatist. And Jim Sperinck. His Cobblers' Ball was a lame look at the melodrama, only partly redeemed by Rob Francis's laconic simpleton and Angela Gee's man-eating aristocrat.