THE
HOUSE THEY GREW UP IN
Chichester Festival Theatre at the
Minerva
15.07.2017
“What
has happened to us?”, the siblings ruefully wonder.
They're
stuck in confused, reclusive
routine, existing among the clutter of a lifetime in their childhood
home, their parents dead. The sister seems to dominate, mothering
her brother, feeding him on the fish prepared for Charlie Brown their
elusive cat. He takes refuge in his headphones.
Deborah
Bruce's new play – inspired by a couple she observed in an art
gallery café – manages to be amusing and uplifting as well as
deeply sad.
Daniel
and Peppy's lives are turned around by a predictable incident, which
makes a crime scene of their squalid home, searched by sinister
officers in blue overalls. But just as things seem at their most
desperate, there comes salvation and a new start of sorts.
Jeremy
Herrin's production is perfectly judged. The design [Max Jones] is
magnificent, with a stunning scene change just before the interval.
The
dramatic structure is powerfully precise. Symbols are tellingly
deployed. We see the kitchen tap run free once more, the child's
smashed Harry Potter mug [magic destroyed]
is restored, the walnut spice cake is baked at last, as Daniel
realises that it's nice outside, and that there are other buses he
could take. Peppy bangs
on Charlie Brown's dish one last time, his name heading a roll-call
of the dead.
The
two main characters are compelling brought to life by Daniel Ryan as
the big, childlike, uncoordinated brother and
Samantha Spiro as his fussy, birdlike sister. The other characters
drift in and out – and we occasionally move next door to a kitchen
that couldn't be more different. There is some doubling – Philip
Wright is both the awful, cheery Gareth, who tries to buy the Angelis
family home for a fraction of its worth, and the helpful husband of
the lovely support worker Karen [Michelle Greenidge]. And perhaps
there could have been more – I can envisage a production in which
two actors play all the other roles. Except of course for “the
next-door child”.
This
pivotal character, the eight-year-old Ben, superbly played by Rudi
Millard, is in some ways a miniature of Daniel, innocently impressed
by his feats of memory, seeking the attention and affection lacking
at home.
His
mother - “no smoke without fire” - who turns out to have
tragedies of her own – is Mary Stockley; the detective who tries to
coax incriminating confidences from Ben and Daniel is Matt Sutton.
Like
their real-life inspiration, these two strange characters, and their
intriguing past lives, tend to linger in the memory. Like the
playwright, we realise how little we know of other people we meet,
and hope against hope that, against all odds, redemption and a happy
ending may still be possible.
Peppy's
mother's Walnut Spice Cake
[with thanks and apologies to Carol, who
made it]
Serves:
14
60g
finely chopped walnuts
285g
cake flour
1
teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2
teaspoon ground allspice
1/2
teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2
teaspoon salt
150g
butter
300g
dark brown soft sugar
2
eggs
225g
buttermilk
Prep:15min
› Cook:50min › Extra time:10min cooling › Ready
in:1hr15min
Preheat
oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Grease a 23cm tube cake tin and dust with
flour.
Sift
together cake flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg
and salt. Cream the butter. Blend in dark brown soft sugar and beat
until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs.
Stir
dry ingredients into creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk.
Blend in the finely chopped walnuts.
Spoon
cake mixture gently into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes,
or until cake springs back when you touch it lightly. Cool in tin for
about 10 minutes. Put on cake rack to cool completely. Sprinkle icing
sugar over cake before serving, if desired.
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