Deckchairs

These days, one-act plays are the domain of community theatre with most companies programming a season of them each year. Ipswich Little Theatre’s 2016 offering took three stories from British playwright Jean McConnell’s Deckchairs series of 16 one-act duologues for women.

Of the three, Cupboard Love directed by Chris Austin-Greenhill, had the most impact. Two over-weight women meet at a gym, discuss gourmet food, and the man they cook it for. Deb Wilson in spandex and sweat-band as Jane, and Autumn Barn similarly attired as Peggy, were a pair of very funny gym-junkies who barely touched the hard workout machines, skipped for five minutes and rested for ten. Two accomplished actresses who knew how to get low-belly laughs whilst jogging around to Olivia Newton John’s “Physical”; it was the final play of the night and sent the audience out on a high.

The other two plays were slight, more like sketches or vignettes and could have been told in 15 minutes each.

Cruise Missile, directed by Aaron Evans, was about first-time cruiser Janet (Alarna Harris) getting caught on the Games Deck with an older woman, Goldie (Robyn Harm) who’s determined to micro-organise the entire trip for her. When Janet abruptly rebels at her interference Goldie quickly retreats. The slight piece was saved by Harm’s garrulous Goldie as the passenger from hell.

In Last Post, directed by Ann Collyer, a grieving widow Felicity (Gillian Simpson) received a letter from Mary (Rodell Rojo) asking for help to raise the child of her dead husband. It’s all a con but Felicity falls for it. Simpson’s woman in mourning evoked sympathy but unfortunately Rojo’s performance telegraphed the denouement from the beginning.

In all three pieces McConnell’s writing was flaccid and not altogether satisfying. They’re plays for an undiscriminating audience who like a slice of drama rather than the whole pie.

Peter Pinne