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Show: After the Dance
Society: Carlton Theatre Group
Venue: Studio at New Wimbledon Theatre
Credits: Terence Rattigan
Type: Sardines
Author: Caroline Jenner
Performance Date: 16/08/2022
After the Dance
Caroline Jenner | 17 Aug 2022 12:07pm
All photos: Benjamin Copping
After the Dance was first seen in 1939, Rattigan’s second play to be produced in the West End. Closing after only 60 performances, just three weeks before the outbreak of World War Two, it tells the story of David Scott-Fowler and his wife Joan. Part of the ‘bright, young things’ generation who despite being no longer young, continue to party with a frenzied intensity born of boredom, generated by too much wealth and very little purpose.
The action takes place in David’s Mayfair flat. The simplicity of the set at Carlton Theatre Group’s production gives plenty of scope for the actors to explore the different scenarios of the piece, and the opening, with the cast dancing crazily across the stage in a drunken conga promises much. Unfortunately, a great deal of the rest of the performance seems to focus everything on the sofa in the middle of the stage and when the desk, stage left, is utilised, it is set so far out that the audience feel like they are in a tennis match, swivelling between characters. The piano, which is used twice, appears to be real, but as we never see the keys it seems slightly pointless to have it shoved across a corner, and it’s grubby back, stuck together with gaffer tape, does little to enhance the feeling that we are in an expensive Mayfair establishment, not to mention the set falling on one of the characters as she squeezes alongside it to stand behind her husband as he plays. The pulls of fabric hanging off tablecloths, the drinks of the wrong colour, the empty box of glasses purchased from Woolworths that gives no weight to the bag they are carried in, the very modern cheque that is filled out in pencil – these are all things that can easily be changed and would add an authenticity to the piece that is sadly lacking. Costumes too are very disappointing. A mish mash of different clothes, some of which fit the period and others looking like a cheap option from Primark – the fur lined moccasins are especially anachronistic.
Limited lighting means that the back of the stage remains in darkness, however, the choice of music is innovative and helps create the atmosphere of the period, most noticeably preshow, where something rather like Postmodern Jukebox set the scene. It would have been good to have the music referenced in the programme.
A mixture of performers create engaging group scenes, with a much better use of space as they cavort around with hedonistic pleasure at David and Joan’s party. The juxtaposition of their wanton drunkenness superimposed over the growing despair of Joan, as she comes to terms with her husband’s love for another woman is both convincing and poignant. There are some good performances from David Brown as the long suffering Williams, Robert Clarkson as Carter and Susanna Statton as the wonderfully dry Miss Potter. Emma Bugg as Joan easily convinces us that little interferes with her love of drinking and gossip, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when we discover that had she been honest with her husband she could quite possibly have saved her marriage. Her body language is strong, particularly as she stands looking in the mirror aware that her world is crumbling. Not quite so believable, Natalie Romero as Helen, seems to lack confidence in the delivery of her lines. Helen needs to be completely self-assured, increasing the pressure she exerts on those around her until she is totally in control. There is too much hesitancy in Romero’s delivery and a slowness which at times took away from the character’s assertive nature.
Craig Bates as David turns in a competent performance as the louche wastrel who is intelligent enough to realise he is on a journey to self-destruction, but it is Harry Cowper’s Peter and Paul Dineen’s John who steal the show. Cowper portrays Peter as full of noble virtues and integrity. The memorable scene where he swallows his pride to come and ask for financial support garners the audience’s sympathy as Cowper avoids eye contact with his ruthlessly forceful ex-girlfriend, Helen. However, it is Dineen’s compelling performance as John Reid that propels this show forward. A joker in the style of Shakespeare’s Feste, John ‘s witty banter is designed to entertain the friends on whose hospitality he is freeloading, but with penetrating perception he sees them more clearly than they see themselves. With confident assurance Dineen travels through the play, providing each of the key characters with insightful moments of truth and leaving to finally take up a position in the workplace with an air of resigned despair. Delivered with conviction his performance raises the production to another level.
At almost three hours the play is a marathon, particularly in the heat of the small studio at the New Wimbledon Theatre. After the Dance is a clever, interesting play that draws on Rattigan’s own experiences as part of the Mayfair set following the success of his first West End production, French Without Tears. Although Carlton Theatre Group’s production has its flaws Rattigan’s writing still manages to transport us to a society of shallow superficiality in a world on the brink of war, something far too familiar in our current times.