★★★

“And while the intimacy of the piece is fitting, Morgan and Straus fail to capture the richness and depth of the legendary characters”

More than a century before our Celebrity Culture took hold, the legendary actors Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse became the pioneers of superstardom. Their rivalry has been said to have changed acting forever, becoming two of the first to achieve lasting worldwide fame. George Bernard Shaw almost certainly fuelled their enmity, praising Duse for ‘the best modern acting I have ever seen’, going on to say that while Bernhardt was ‘charming, artful and clever’, Duse ‘touches you straight on the very heart’.

Their approach to their art couldn’t have been more dissimilar. Duse favoured a naturalistic and contemporary style, using the power of emotion on stage while Bernhardt adopted the method style of acting with flamboyant gestures. Yet they still shared the same passion and should have – could have – been friends. Their story is of two people who had too much in common but were as different as night and day. Otho Eskin, in his play “Duet” imagines a final meeting of the two; one month before Duse’s death and a year after Bernhardt’s.

Duse (Cynthia Straus) is in ill-health, backstage at a theatre in Pittsburgh. Alone and far from home she is about to perform, for the very last time, as Marguerite in Alexandre Dumas’ “La Dame Aux Camelias”. A role she has played many times before, and one which Bernhardt made famous. Threatening to cancel the performance she sends the theatre manager away so she can be left with her own reflections. Only it isn’t herself she sees, but the ghost of Bernhardt (Wendy Morgan) who wanders into her dressing room threatening to upstage her once more.

Duse initially reacts like a cornered cat. ‘You don’t belong here anymore’. Bernhardt fails to tame her: ‘We could have been friends’. ‘No’ replies Duse bluntly. The initial antagonism slowly gives way to a resignation that the two are confined together until they settle some sort of score. Over the next ninety minutes we witness their differences slowly bringing them together, while a diffident affection tugs at the hems of their overblown egos.

Ludovica Villar-Hauser’s unostentatious staging neatly cuts from their dialogue to flashbacks and reminiscences. They are fragments that shed some light on their backstories, focusing on a pivotal moment when Duse went to Paris to play Marguerite – a role that Bernhardt claimed was hers alone. Throughout their ghostly encounter, Nick Waring comes and goes as the various men who weave in and out of their professional and personal lives.

The crucial questions, though, remain unanswered. And while the intimacy of the piece is fitting, Morgan and Straus fail to capture the richness and depth of the legendary characters. We are seeing them both with their masks down, yet we never really do get a glimpse of what might have lain beneath. Eskin has done his research, but the somewhat flat delivery presses the dialogue into a monochrome portrayal. The sense of mystery or discovery we were expecting becomes the ghostly presence that the writer and performers can never quite grasp. And, as a result, neither can we.

THE SECRET GARDEN at Theatre at the Tabard

★★★★

“above all the show is a heart-warming tale where the messages do not overpower in the slightest”

Let us step back in time. It doesn’t have to be a century. Two or three decades will just about do. If you’re old enough, you will be looking through tinted glasses at a misremembered landscape strewn with innocent pastimes and simple pleasures, unencumbered by material covetousness and technological hunger. We are all familiar with those platitudinal posts on social media that compare and contrast ‘then-and-now’ childhoods. Or invite us to ‘name one thing you could bring back from (choose your decade here) that doesn’t exist anymore’. It is all a game, but at heart we all, at one point or another, seek out the comfort of nostalgia. Well, here’s a short cut for you: the current ‘Theatre at the Tabard’ production of “The Secret Garden” will take you straight there.

Without succumbing to any festive trappings, Simon Reilly’s seasonal offering, adapted by Louise Haddington from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel, opens like an Edwardian Christmas card. Old fashioned, but not dated. The heart is in the story telling, the humour and the message. The premise might be quite unfamiliar to most twenty-first century children, but this interpretation makes the characters’ situations instantly understandable. At its core is Mary Lennox, the orphaned girl sent to live in the imposing Yorkshire country manor, the home of her reclusive uncle. Daisy Rae captures well the initial wide-eyed alarm at the unfamiliar. Initially a cantankerous old woman trapped inside a young girl’s body, we forgive her ways as we witness her learning and rejuvenating. Rae generously relinquishes lead role status, allowing as much importance to be attached to the others. Most notably Jordan Rising, as the young Dickon, who nurtures Mary, who in turn nurtures and helps heal Sam McHale’s quirky Colin – her bed ridden cousin. Life is austere, but not devoid of devotion and kindness. Mari Luz Cervantes, as Martha the maid, demonstrates a winning tolerance that blossoms into friendship. A companionship shared by Freya Alderson’s housekeeper, Mrs Medlock, albeit from a respectful distance.

Reilly teases little nuances from his cast that add an extra layer to the personalities. Mrs Medlock occasionally, almost subconsciously, pats Mary like a rescue-dog. Rae’s subtle expression of bewilderment when she utters the word ‘thank you’ for the first time. When Mary meets her uncle Archibald for the first time, we are quite moved by the suppressed emotion. A touch too young for the role perhaps, Richard Lounds still manages to convey a reserved gravitas that barely conceals the grief he still feels ten years after losing his wife. Lounds doubles as the gardener, Ben Weatherstaff, for which he is more suited.

It is a story of healing. Gentle. A slow burner, lit by embers rather than fire. As Mary slowly thaws, we are kept warm. The show is well aware of its audience and plays to it, pushing no boundaries but blossoming within its own confines, like the eponymous Secret Garden itself. Simple devices shift the action from the manor’s interior out into the garden, underscored by Nick Gilbert’s suggestive music. Hazel Owen’s design matches the modesty but delivers a remarkable, show-stopping reveal. Complemented by Nat Green’s lighting, a fairy-tale sprinkling of magic lays a sheen on what could potentially be a dusty tale.

The feelgood factor crawls its way under our skin, and once there it stays. Burnett’s messages are timeless, and in this interpretation, they are a celebration rather than a sneer. The housekeeper declares that children should not be ‘looked after too much’. They need ‘fresh air and liberty’. A poetic echo of our modern-day soapbox reprovals. But above all the show is a heart-warming tale where the messages do not overpower in the slightest. Instead, they are camouflaged within the entertainment. It is simple magic. And it is simply magic.

Tag Archives: Theatre at the Tabard

DUET

★★★

Theatre at the Tabard

DUET at Theatre at the Tabard

★★★

“And while the intimacy of the piece is fitting, Morgan and Straus fail to capture the richness and depth of the legendary characters”

DUET at Theatre at the Tabard

Reviewed on 19th April 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Ali Wright

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE SECRET GARDEN | ★★★★ | December 2023

ABOUT BILL | ★★★★★ | August 2023

DUET

DUET

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

The Secret Garden

★★★★

Theatre at the Tabard

THE SECRET GARDEN at Theatre at the Tabard

★★★★

“above all the show is a heart-warming tale where the messages do not overpower in the slightest”