Tough Theatre Company presents
Black Chiffon
by Lesley Storm
Directed by Andy Brunskill
White Bear Theatre
A review by Bernie Whelan for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Andy Brunskill's Tough Theatre Company have successfully revived other neglected texts using some of the same cast, notably Hippolytus last June, another play about family divisions generated by the unearthing of a too passionate bond between mother and son. It is nearly 30 years since Black Chiffon played in London and 60 years since it first opened. Prolific Scottish writer Lesley Storm's plays were filmed for television as she also wrote screenplays for feature films. This production returns us to the up-tight, conservative middle-class world of post-war London, where rationing limits what 'Nannie' (Linnie Reedman) can rustle up in the kitchen and the over-bearing father figure Robert Christie (Keith Chanter) limits what can be said in the parlour.
The central tension in Black Chiffon revolves around Mrs Alicia Christie (Maggie Daniels) referred to by her husband as 'a good woman' who has raised her two children Roy (Nick Lawson) and Thea (Charlotte Powell) without a murmur of protest during his long absences. Her beloved son is about to marry so, realising how things will change, she flagrantly steals a black chiffon nightdress like the one she has seen her son's fiancée Louise (Amy Barnes) wearing from a reputable department store. The news of what she has done devastates the whole family, but her impulse is to throw her head back and laugh, like the street-walker she saw from her taxi on the way to the store. Her husband steps in to avert scandal by bringing in psychologist Bennett Hawkins (Gary Heron) who's task is to find mitigating circumstances for the court case, due to be heard the day before Roy and Louise get married.
It is easy to see why this play would have been popular, particularly with female audiences. Alicia Christie is no Jocasta, quietly going off stage to kill herself. When faced with the choice between public condemnation or the private disintegration of family relationships nurtured over a lifetime of self-sacrifice, she emerges as the tragic hero of this play.
Maggie Daniels is superb, just as she was in a similar role in Hotel Sorrento last year. The scenes between her and the disarmingly friendly psychologist played by Gary Heron were quietly enthralling. The nervous hysteria of both Charlotte Powell as Thea and Amy Barnes as Louise managed to be funny while ratcheting up the tension at the same time. The Oedipal clash between father and son was well played by Keith Chanter and Nick Lawson.
The play struck at profound and universal themes of family rivalries and the resulting unhappiness lying just below the surface. The 1950's style take on these issues was a welcome and refreshing break from the therapy culture of victimhood, endless self-examination and confessional public revelations which we suffer from today.
White Bear Theatre
138 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4DJ
Tuesday – Saturday, 7.30pm, Sundays, 5.30pm
Ticket Prices £13, concessions £10
Box Office: 020 7735 8664
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