Trelawny of the Wells

Trelawny of the Wells
By Arthur Wing Pinero. Canberra Repertory. Directed by Tony Turner. Theatre 3, Acton A.C.T. 29 March – 9 April 2017

Rose Trelawny farewells her theatrical colleagues at the Wells theatre in order to spend time living, on probation, with her imminent in-laws, only to discover that people in that world don’t exaggerate every mannerism, emotion, and word as her company has always done on the stage — and that her in-laws are unbearable.  Returning to the stage with a compulsion to portray her characters more realistically finds her at odds with the theatre management, to her cost.

 

This doesn’t sound much like food for laughter, but the play does in fact work as comedy.  It also works exceedingly well in contrasting understated as opposed to awfully overstated acting: the play’s final minute or two, which moved the audience by finally demonstrating modern, realistic acting, was in such stark contrast to the rest of the play that only then did it become evident that the apparently uncontrolled overacting preceding it had been a deliberate ploy on the director’s part.

 

It’s difficult to know quite why audiences were subjected to these exaggerations even in cosier theatres and ones that had acquired the use of audio amplification; but Tony Turner’s lesson in the way that hamming up every word and motion drains actors and audiences alike and even accelerates occasional lines beyond all comprehension — despite Jon Pearson’s immaculate sound design — is one that could have benefitted many audiences in the nineteenth century and could benefit many amateur theatre directors even today.

 

The execution of this lesson left only Rob de Fries, as playwright Tom Wrench (also known, inexplicably, as Tom Wicks); Henry Strand, playing Arthur Gower; and Alessa Kron, playing Rose Trelawny, with the opportunity to act naturally, which all three did with ease in the play’s final minutes, Kron and Strand bringing to its denouement the play’s first truthful, moving emotions.  The play’s costumery and props complemented nicely its clever sets, beautiful as ever thanks to the design by Ian Croker and construction coordinated by Russell Brown OA.

 

All in all, Trelawny's interesting insights into acting technique even as it executes classic comedic breaks is worth seeing for its role as a turning point in theatre history alone.

 

John P. Harvey

[L–R] Jerry Hearn, Jess Waterhouse, and Alessa Kron, in Trelawny of the Wells.  Photographer: Ross Gould.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.