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| Quartet |
RETIREMENT can be bittersweet as playwright Ronald Harwood demonstrates so poignantly in his play Quartet Set in a country-house retirement home for opera singers in Kent, it is a gentle comedy with a weather eye on the absurdities of both the brain and the body slowing down.
But it is also a triumph of hope over experience and, in the hands of the Company of Ten, who are currently performing it at the Abbey Theatre in St Albans, Quartet is a great success.
With a cast of only four, Quartet focuses on how the elderly worthies prepare for Verdi's Birthday Gala Concert at the home.
We meet them first in the grounds of their home and say farewell to them at their moment of greatest triumph.
Mike McInnerny has the juiciest role as Wilfred, a man of lascivious appetites trapped in an elderly cove's body. He has all the best lines and plays the part of the archetypal dirty old man to perfection.
The object of his desires is Jane Byrne's Cissy who has a heart of gold despite suffering from the confusion of age - itself another cause for hilarity.
Alan Herring immerses himself in the role of the straitlaced Reggie with great aplomb and Margaret Metcalf is alternately insecure and diva-esque as Jean, the great star fallen on hard times who cannot believe she has ended up at the home.
The only criticism is that the quartet are not quite old enough for their roles - but there is an argument that any older and the cast might have become as forgetful as the foursome in the play.
There is certainly great rapport between them and, although the play flags slightly early in the second half, they soon bring it back up, aided and abetted by a clothing skip containing some very interesting costumes.
Philip Gillmor directs Quartet and his great enthusiasm for the play permeates the production from start to finish. It runs until Saturday 18 November and tickets can be obtained from the box office on 01727 857861.
MADELEINE BURTON
© Herts Advertiser 2006. Reproduced by permission