Just between ourselves

***

A London Classic theatre production.  LCT have performed for twenty five years, this is their 49^th Uk tour and their third Ayckbourn play .  “Just Between Ourselves”  was premiered  in 1976, almost a half century ago and hasn’t been toured professionally for fifteen years.  One of 91 Aykbourn plays, it certainly deserves a dusting down and re-evaluation.

It features  5 birthdays, 2 unhappy marriages and 1 possessive mother as two couples marriages come under the spotlight and the specific glare of   a possessive, domineering mother/mother-in-law, Marjorie.

Connie Walker  as Marjorie dominates ; not only the characters, but the play itself. Her son comments that Scorpios ( Marjorie’s star sign )are secretive, scheming and devious.- a neat character summary as the tale teeters between  tragedy and comedy ,  comedy realised with acute, astute observations on the human condition which are painfully accurate. Tom Richardson (Dennis) is trying to sell a wrecked mini  to Joseph Clowser (Neil) whose wife  Helen Phillips (Pam) is indifferent to all around. Holly Smith ( Vera) is a bigger wreck than the mini. Physically the set by Liz Wright looks a little chaotic yet with lovely touches including  swirly orange and brown garden chairs and a  floral tea set, It could only be  the 1970s. The costuming is gloriously spot on . Voluminous  flapping flares, sensible  plaid skirts and stripey jumpers  abound.

Director Michael Cabot skilfully draws the omnipresent  underlying tensions and hostility to the surface allowing each actor to turn their character inside out. It is 1976, Dennis tinkers in his garage, and over a course of twelve months as he attends to a mechanical breakdown he is oblivious  to wife  his Vera’s impending emotional breakdown. Marjorie hovers in the background, making tea and finding fault while hypochondriac  friend  Neil has planned a birthday surprise for his wife,  Pam, who is less than enthusiastic.

The first half, featuring the men feels ungainly, however when the women enter the fray in act two , the pace accelerates. Gender roles and dynamics have moved on in the past fifty years ,so the liberation the women seek feel a little discordant. The bumbling macho male tropes seem similarly dated, the psychiatric problems awkward, with the misogyny and bullying uneasy laughs. Nonetheless Dennis is enjoyably frenetic in a way that basil Fawlty fans would appreciate and  Helen Phillips as Pam give an alluring pleasing performance.

Poignant, potent, wry and funny this is a worthy revival and runs until   sat 17^th May before continuing on nationwide tour.