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Show: One Night in November
Society: Guildburys Theatre Company
Venue: Electric Theatre, Guildford
Credits: Alan Pollock
Type: Sardines
Author: Nigel Dams
Performance Date: 15/11/2017
One Night in November
Nigel Dams | 17 Nov 2017 18:41pm
In the scale of Things Difficult To Stage, I would have thought a living-room getting smashed up by the Luftwaffe would be right up there, but Guildburys did it to superb effect. That was the emotional, dramatic and visual climax to a very thought-provoking show at the Electric in Guildford last night.
One Night in November tells the story of a massive bombing raid on Coventry (if you have to ask who did the bombing ask your Nan). Guildburys are to be congratulated on several levels for this latest offering, not least for finding performers who are young, beautiful and talented. I don’t mean that the young and beautiful are not often talented, only that they’re not generally available to amateur theatre societies.  It’s great to see the average age lowered in this way 🙂
Sarah Martin and James Martin (not related) head the cast as a pair of at-first-sight lovers whose story begins on a nameless railway platform and ends on a nameless hospital garden bench. What happens along the way is intriguing, beguiling and heart-breaking, as our star-crossed pair are caught up in the misery and mystery of total war, code-breaking, official secrets and ruthless decisions.
James Martin’s Michael Green is on the staff at Bletchley Park for his skills in language and lateral thinking. Katie Stanley lives in Coventry. Michael’s puzzle-solving skills lead him gradually to the awful realisation that Coventry is to be the target of a massive air-raid. He is forbidden to leak any of this to anyone on the ground that if the enemy knew their code had been broken, our side would lose a priceless advantage.
This was played in a series of switches between each half of the stage – the Bletchley offices and the Stanley home where the excellent Jonathan Arundel played the passionately-communist father, railing against the plutocratic authorities and loving his family and his country and being torn up by divided loyalties.
Mixed in with this are several ‘flash forward’ episodes where the older Katie quizzes Churchill’s driver about how much the authorities knew about the impending raid, and whether they just let Coventry burn, and why.
With the aid of a blackboard, the audience are allowed to see the mystery develop and with background projection and superb sound-and-light cues we were drawn irresistibly into the past, and into those dramatically awful times. When the raid finally came and the bomb hit the house, the effect was truly impressive, as the smoke cleared and the smashed staircase came into view. Here Ally Murphy deserves special mention for her portrayal of a girl trapped under fallen debris and coming to the agonising realisation that her mum is not going to answer her cries. It was superbly done.
As always with Guildburys, every aspect of the production was top-notch, and every supporting player was excellent; though it would be tedious to mention them all, they all deserve praise. It was a fine evening’s theatre. If you get a chance to see it, you won’t be sorry.
- : admin
- : 15/11/2017