Nicola Spencer highly recommends 'Valued Friends' now showing at the Rose Theatre until 12 October...
OUR VERDICT
I think I can get away with not showing my age here if I said that much of Stephen Jeffreys’ 80s-based political satire is relatable today. A cautionary tale of struggling to get on the property ladder, unscrupulous pin-striped property developers and relationship tensions, is as relevant now as it was in the money-grabbing, materialistic world of Thatcher’s Britain.
Jeffreys’ play was first performed in 1989 and is set in the 80s when London was a hotbed of social, cultural and political change. The story centres on four friends who share a basement flat in Earl’s Court. Sherry is a struggling stand-up comedienne with plenty of chat and always looking to scrounge money off her long-suffering flatmates. Howard is a slightly downtrodden, left-wing academic who is trying to write a breakthrough analysis on the corruption of capitalism. Paul, a disillusioned music journalist and his girlfriend Marion, an up-and-coming office executive, are the pragmatic, self-appointed leaders of the group.
All four live together in relative harmony until a property developer enters the scene offering to buy them out of their flat so that he can redevelop the building. On Marion’s instigation, and in very much ‘the lady’s not for turning’ mode, the four decide to hold out for a better deal, with life-changing consequences for each of them, which shines a light on their relationships, loyalties and the changing face of Britain’s politics at the time.
I very much enjoyed the play. The writing is witty and often laugh-out-loud and the staging and acting excellent. The four main protagonists, though a tad contrived in their characterisation, play their roles superbly, even if it was sometimes difficult to believe that they would have ended up together as friends in the first place.
Natalie Casey’s Sherry is a likeable bundle of energy, Catrin Stewart’s slightly imperious Marion seems to epitomise the career-obsessed yuppies of the 80s, but really all she wants is a baby. She becomes the driving force behind the plan to play the developer at his own game, raising the sitting tenant stakes, one shoulder pad at a time.
The two male characters, Sam Frenchum as Paul and Michael Marcus as Howard, play their roles with conviction, although were sometimes overshadowed by Sherry and Marion, showing that Jeffreys was a little ahead of his time in giving his female leads such empowering roles. They are brilliantly supported by the sleazy developer, Scott, played by Ralph Davis and Nicolas Tennant, a hilarious labourer-philosopher reminiscent of Eliza Doolittle’s dad in My Fair Lady. If ever I wanted to excavate 50 tons of soil from my back yard, I know whom I’d call.
The writing is sharp and funny and the staging is clever, with a rotating stage and a banging 80s soundtrack. Funny, yet thought-provoking, I found the evolution of the characters believable and came away satisfied and entertained, looking forward to writing down my thoughts in my black leather filofax. Highly recommended.
Rose Theatre, 21 September - 12 October, 7.30 pm
Tickets from £15 (book here)
