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at
the Mercury Theatre, Colchester
08.05.13
Colchester
gets
a
name-check
in
this
third
episode
of
Ayckbourn's
Intimate
Exchanges;
or
Camulodunum,
as
Boudicca
might
have
called
it.
She's
the
subject
of
the
pageant,
and
the
two
women
in
Headmaster
Toby
Teasdale's
life
are
both
in
the
frame
to
take
the
part.
Just
the
four
main
characters
this
time
out
– we'll
have
to
wait
for
A
Game
of
Golf
in
June
to
meet
Miles
again
– but
no
shortage
of
themes,
plenty
of
awkward
moments
and
of
course
loads
of
laughs.
Some
striking
imagery
too
– love
is
like
malaria,
marriage
like
a
familiar
flat.
In
the
Teasdales'
back
garden,
laconic
handyman
Lionel
offers
to
lay
Celia's
crazy
paving,
while
she
would
really
prefer
a
shoulder
to
cry
on.
As
the
ambitious,
but
none-too-subtle
Hepplewhite,
Gwynfor
Jones
uncannily
catches
the
body
language
and
the
tone
of
the
man
– "Sweat's
not
expensive,"
he
assures
Celia.
Her
home
help,
Sylvie
dreams
of
domestic
bliss
while
Lionel
rolls
a
ciggie.[Both
these
rival
tribal
queens
are
played
superbly
by
Ruth
Gibson,
capturing
mercilessly
the
brittle,
brisk
Headmaster's
wife
and
the
gauche,
bovine
village
domestic.]
One
of
the
strands
here
is
about
making
the
most
of
yourself
[the
third
scene
is
titled
The
Self-Improving
Woman],
and
Sylvie
is
first
coached
by
Lionel's
Pygmalion
in
posture,
deportment
and
positive
thinking,
and
later
begs
to
be
Rita
to
Toby's
Frank,
hoping
that
some
coaching
in
English
literature
might
make
her
more
attractive.
The
main
scene
here,
as
the
Pageant
looms,
sees
Sylvie
struggling
with
the
pentameters,
Celia
distraught
at
Toby's
heartless
rejection,
and
much
fun
with
contrasting
costumes
[though
neither
looks
much
like
the
descriptions
given
of
them],
collapsing
scenery,
and
an
ingenious
catfight
between
the
two
leading
ladies.
Jones's
Toby,
who
sometimes
tends
to
caricature,
did
have
a
very
effective
moment
of
sudden
self-awareness,
as
he
realises
the
value
of
marital
familiarity.
Even
without
the
promiscuous
Rowena,
there's
a
tangled
cat's-cradle
of
love,
lust
and
infatuation
on
stage
here.
But
the
final
scene,
unusually
optimistic
for
Ayckbourn,
eschewing
infidelity
and
the
five-year
itch,
sees
a
village
wedding,
and
Toby
and
Celia
finding
some
common
ground
at
last,
albeit
in
mutually
sour
remembrance
of
things
past
…
The
programme
has
useful
local
references
both
to
the
Warrior
Queen
and
to
Colchester's
own
historical
pageant
of
1909.
And
I
am
assured
that
even
if
you
didn't
see
Miles
emerge
blinking
from
his
shed
seclusion,
or
Lionel
serving
up
his
cream
teas,
Robin
Herford's
production
still
stands
as
a
masterclass
in
social
comedy
and
quick-change
characterization.
this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews
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