Tag Archives: Golden Goose Theatre

What I Really Think of my Husband

★★★

Golden Goose Theatre

WHAT I REALLY THINK OF MY HUSBAND at the Golden Goose Theatre

★★★

“The play has the air of a work in progress, but the five strong cast give it substantial shape”

Despite his literary success as a novelist and a poet, Thomas Hardy was quite a shy personality who tried to keep a precarious control over what aspects of his life were to be divulged and what were not. Although his two marriages have gained public attention, not much is really known beyond the facts. Following Emma’s death (his first wife) he burnt a manuscript of hers entitled ‘What I Think of My Husband’, together with most of her diaries. When Hardy’s second wife, Florence, decided to write a ‘biography’ of him, he retained control by dictating to her virtually the whole of the manuscript.

Writer David Pinner (whose novel ‘Ritual’ inspired the cult film ‘The Wicker Man’) delves deeper with a new play “What I Really Think of My Husband”. Its premiere, at the intimate Golden Goose Theatre, comes without fanfare or frills. The play has the air of a work in progress, but the five strong cast give it substantial shape in Julia Stubbs’ slick and engaging presentation.

When we first meet Thomas Hardy (Edmund Dehn) he has recently published ‘Jude the Obscure’ which received a harsh reception from scandalised critics, and which his first wife, Emma (Laura Fitzpatrick), perceived as being based on their own marriage. Dehn and Fitzpatrick spar like Edward Albee’s George and Martha, surrounded by their imaginary menagerie of cats. The cats have filled the gaps in their childless marriage while the bickering has displaced the romance. Intercut are scenes of the couple in their youth (Andrew Crouch and Aliya Silverstone) as yet unaware of the ephemeral nature of infatuation. When his wife dies, Hardy marries his secretary Florence Dugdale (Isabella Inchbald) who sadly could never really escape the shadow of the first wife. Her aspirations of being the true muse were thwarted by Hardy’s love poetry forever being inspired with Emma in mind.

Pinner’s script has a lyrical flow, referencing Hardy’s poetry such as ‘The Dawn after the Dance’ and ‘The Dead Man Walking’ and lesser-known works as well. There is a Gothic touch, with traces of dark humour. But although he treats the material with care and a poetic sensitivity, the result is a little confusing. Not so much due to the chronological shifts in the narrative, more because of an over emphasis on an extra character, also called Florence, and also played by Inchbald. The first half of the piece is slightly dragged down by the story of Florence Henniker, a poet and novelist who collaborated with Hardy. Inchbald comes into her own as Florence Dugdale in the second act. As Hardy’s secretary she manages to shield herself from Emma’s prophetic warnings. But later, as Hardy’s wife, she has little armour against the ghostly challenges from beyond the grave.

Dehn gives an inspired performance as Hardy, striking the right note of being somewhat unaware of his own excruciating behaviour. Fitzpatrick skilfully avoids throwing Emma into the role of victim and instead elevates the character into lead role material. After all, it is supposed to be her story. Yet it is also billed as a ‘ghost story’ in its marketing, yet this much anticipated through-line doesn’t fully materialise. We want more of the supernatural to manifest itself rather than hover in the twilight zone of the play; and it feels like Pinner has missed a trick here.

They say that ‘behind every great man there is a great woman’. With Thomas Hardy there were two. At least. And a ghost thrown in for good measure. Pinner sheds light on these characters, but it is Stubbs’ production – and the performances – that really bring them to life.

 

WHAT I REALLY THINK OF MY HUSBAND at the Golden Goose Theatre

Reviewed on 24th November 2023

by Jonathan Evans

 


 
 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Strangers In Between | ★★★★ | September 2023

What I Really Think of my Husband

What I Really Think of my Husband

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Strangers in Between

Strangers in Between

★★★★

Golden Goose Theatre

STRANGERS IN BETWEEN at the Golden Goose Theatre

★★★★

Strangers in Between

“Murphy has an ear for brilliant one liners and non-sequiturs, and a piercing insight into human contradictions.”

“Strangers In Between” premiered in Sydney, Australia in 2005. Not that long ago in the great scheme of things, but it has already acquired the sheen of a period piece. To describe it as a ‘classic’ might be going a bit too far, yet it might only be a matter of time such is the astute personal observation and grasp of characterisation. Primarily a coming-of-age play that explores the highs and lows of growing up gay in twenty-first century Australia, Tommy Murphy’s three-hander extends beyond demographics and speaks to ‘everyman’. There is a refreshing inclusivity in the writing that, stemming from the heart of the piece, reaches out and embraces the universal themes of friendship, fear, family and other ‘f’ words.

Shane (Alex Ansdell) is young, ingenuous, desperately naïve and, well, simply desperate. He has washed up in Kings Cross Sydney, having run away from his hometown deep in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Nervous and paranoid, he has not managed to escape the shadows of violence and abuse from which he appears to be fleeing. Working in a bottle shop, he strikes up a friendship with two contrasting men: the self-assured, cool-headed Will (Matthew Mitcham) and the more mature, witty and camp Peter (Stephen Connery-Brown). Shane has no filters but, despite stretching the patience of the other two, he becomes adopted into a new-found, surrogate family that he evidently hasn’t had the comfort of before now.

There are twists, of course. One in particular that you don’t see coming, even sitting up close in the intimate space of the Golden Goose theatre. Like everything else in the piece, it is not over-egged. It all works on a subliminal level, the gentleness being a smoke screen for the realistically harsh issues bubbling underneath. Murphy has an ear for brilliant one liners and non-sequiturs, and a piercing insight into human contradictions. Adam Spreadbury-Maher returns to direct, having steered it successfully from the King’s Head into the West End in 2016 and 2017. His staging is a pitch-perfect complement (and compliment) to the writing, along with Richard Lambert’s lighting that mirrors the light and shade of the text, enhancing the mood and sense of location.

“A real and rare find that must be seen”

Moreover, the performances are what bring the play fully to life. Spreadbury-Maher has brought together a formidable trio of actors whose chemistry creates an electrifying ménage à trois. For a professional debut, Alex Ansdell excels as the hyper Shane; jittery, paranoid and certainly damaged. Switching from the inane to the explicit, the fawning to the abusive, Ansdell has a command of the text that belies his experience. (Who else could string together the subject of coat hangers and anal sex so naturally into the same sentence?). Matthew Mitcham, as Will, flawlessly depicts the emotions triggered by this infuriating yet loveable new-boy-in-town, wavering between attraction and repulsion, ultimately slipping into the mantle of brotherly love. Mitcham also doubles up as Ben, the abusive brother from whom Shane is supposedly escaping, but I shall say no more about this dramatic conceit for fear of spoilers.

Stephen Connery-Brown, as Peter the older man, reacts to Shane with a heartfelt, honest and humorous affection. A quiet and quite brilliant portrayal of a character who defies stereotype. There is a lustful twinkle in his eye as he takes Shane under his wing, without a sense of being predatory. Teasing with tenderness he gives an air of being able to take or leave Shane but we sense a paternal longing. It is testament to the writing and performances that these personalities can mix this yearning for surrogate family ties with sexual desire, and yet avoid any hint of seediness.

“Strangers In between” is above all a character led piece; the beauty of it lying in the fact it tackles the issues without having to hold up placards. Another sense in which it can be described as a period piece – it revisits a style of theatre that is becoming increasingly rare. The skill is innate, and the audience is allowed to soak up the experience of their own free will with no pointers, extravagant trickery or didacticism. It is an honest, rite-of-passage story, perhaps a little too gentle in its conclusion, but wickedly funny and acute in its observations. A real and rare find that must be seen.

 


STRANGERS IN BETWEEN at the Golden Goose Theatre

Reviewed on 22nd September 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Peter Davies

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

LIVING WITH THE LIGHTS ON  ★★★★  October 2020

HOWERD’S END  ★★★½  October 2020

Strangers in Between

Strangers in Between

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