Theatre At The Tabard, Bath Road, London W4.
🍷🍷🍷🍷 – 4 out of 5 glasses of Celebratory Fizz!
After All These Years is a delightful and well crafted piece, with an intriguing Genesis. It started out as a 10 minute piece (now the 1st Act) with the 2nd and then the 3rd Acts added over succeeding outings. This staccato development is never apparent in the narrative. The text is tight, pacy and clever. The characters are perceptively drawn and, despite obvious temptation, never drift into caricature or lazy stereotype.
The entire cast are clearly all highly competent performers of note, however, head and shoulders above the rest is Jeffrey Holland. Well known for his TV comedy roles, it could be tempting to consider him a ‘lightweight/frivolous’ performer. Nothing could be further from the truth. His performance as Alfred was magnificent. His character was precise, slick and clearly the product of careful and tough preparation. Without giving out any spoilers, the transition between Acts 2 and 3 (a two year period) was a sublime moment in theatre. I was reminded of David Suchet in Amadeus, transitioning between the young and old Salieri. The third act alone was worth the price of the ticket.
Keeping up with such a performance is not easy; and it must be said that it occasionally showed. It is rarely productive to be both actor and a director in theatre, and Graham Pountney, as ‘Charlie’, paid the price of such a venture. His interaction, in the 1st Act, with ‘Alfred’ could have done with an external eye to prevent him simply mirroring the energy and mood of Holland. As a result, one got the slight impression that he had no ideas of his own, which is not the case. At times he showed a depth of detail that was also delightful and a joy to watch. How much more could he have done if not also wearing his directors hat. Both Judy Buxton as ‘Joan’ and Carol Ball as ‘Marianne’ gave very creditable performances, with the one observation that during their 2nd Act duologue, there was a great deal of moving around the stage for no apparent reason other than a desire to ‘keep it moving’. Again, I fear that Pountney as director may have had other things on his mind. But that said Buxton’s use of the varying levels of dramatic irony, were very cleverly done, as in, who, in terms of other characters and the audience, knows what is happening. She gave a level of precision to be much applauded. Ball was occasionally guilty of following the action with regard to energy and pace. However, her final scene with Holland was delicate, nuanced and neatly avoided the traps that were present for a less competent performer – and gave a sparkling climax to the piece.
In short, the production is well worth the viewing, and I would be very pleased to see it again, preferably with more than one individual both directing and performing.
Richard Woolnough.
SEE JEFFEREY HOLLAND IN CONVERSATION WITH NICK HENNEGAN HERE. https://bohemianbritain.com/2024/02/08/a-bohemian-briton-actor-jeffrey-holland/
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