Veronica’s Room

The curtain opens on Veronica’s room, full of sheet covered furniture, with the appearance matching its period, 1935. What happens from that moment is both challenging and intriguing to the audience. To help muddle the thinking, the characters are not named on the progamme but are just the woman, the man, the girl and the boy, as in the original production of 1973. Initially, a young girl is brought to the house, supposedly because she looks like Veronica and is convinced to help give Veronica’s elderly sister Cissie a sense of closure. She is greeted and manipulated by the supposed caregivers until she agrees. From then on it is one shocking thing after another until the end. Very good direction and a top-level cast ensured that dire consequences amazed and awed the audience.

Susan O’Toole-Gridland has excelled with her direction, which surely began with the casting.

Her major success was to ensure that each actor was a different person for each character he/she portrayed. The action flowed and the tension built for a very good production. As for the cast of four, the three main performers carried the night with finesse and skill. John Stibbard and Ellie Bikerdike were excellent as the main manipulators, but Ellie may have overdone the volume a couple of times. Al Bromack looked alive, young and trusting in her role and this gave a good contrast to highlight the drama. Alex Thompson completed the team, but he could do with more variety and life in his portrayal.

Nash Theatre has continued to elevate the standard of their productions with this very well-done challenging night of theatre, which shows what a good team can achieve. See for yourself-if you can-this highly recommended production.

William Davies