A Noel Coward play that explores the tumultuous changes in British society that occurred between World Wars.
If I had to sum up last night’s performance of Noel Coward’s This Happy Breed in one word that word would be ‘genuine’. From the minutely researched period details of the production values to the portrayal of the characters by the top-notch cast, every aspect of this drama oozed authenticity and warmth.
The play, which is perhaps better known for the 1944 big screen adaptation starring the late Sir John Mills, follows the lives of the Gibbons family who we first meet in 1919 when they are rebuilding their lives after the Great War and whom we leave in June 1939, when the nation is once more on the brink of another global conflict.
We share their personal joys – weddings, births and Christmases alongside their tragedies – the loss of a child, illness and the loneliness of old age, all against a backdrop of social upheaval – women’s rights, the rise of socialism and of course, the fear of once again facing another world war.
The whole piece is effortlessly held together by Mark Elstob as devoted husband and father Frank Gibbons and his wife Ethel, played beautifully by Helen Logan. Elstob’s portrayal of Frank, an everyman of the interwar period is spot on and delivered with such a subtlety, sincerity and warmth that proved incredibly moving throughout.
Douglas McBride Photographer
The production itself, presented by the Pitlochry Festival Theatre and directed by John Durnin, was over-brimming with historical detail that seamlessly signed the passing of the years. One original and very effective technique was the change in Frank’s hairstyle to denote his ageing – from centre parting (as was the fashion in Edwardian times) through the swept back style of the flapper era to a low left-sided parting which suggested an older gentleman’s ‘combover’.
It would have been so easy for this play to tip into a parody of a ‘cor-blimey guvnor’ Ealing-style comedy or descend totally into kitchen sink melodrama. But Durnin charts a steady course and never once are we diverted from the universal social truths that this one family’s story represents.
This Happy Breed is showing at the Yvonne until October 22. For tickets visit yvonne-arnaud.co.uk
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