Theatre

The Breath of Life at The Little Theatre Leicester Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by LW

The Little Theatre is a small volunteer run theatre in the centre of Leicester. Opposite is a carpark and is surrounded by bars and eateries. The production has been created and hosted by local people with a love for the theatre.

The original production of ‘A Breath of Life’ by David Hare was sold out before it opened. The production starring Judi Dench as Frances Beale and Maggie Smith as Madeleine Palmer. This production has Angela Hill as Frances Beale and Liz Kavanagh as Madeline Palmer.

Martin has moved to America with a younger woman, so the two women of his former life, his wife Frances and Mistress, of 25 years, Madeline, meet face-to-face to discuss their relationships with the central, yet offstage, man. They explore the past over the course of one day and one night, the two women reflect on their lives and the relationships they experienced simultaneously with the same man.

The play takes place in Madeleine’s home, a convincing set with a fully working, and utilised kitchen. We get a sense of who she is from this set, however, the sofa stuck out like a sore thumb – it just didn’t fit with the rest of the style of the room, looking dark, shabby and dated. The rest however looked great.

The costumes were used to show the difference between the two women, Frances in a blouse, skirt and several strings of pearls, whereas Madeline more relaxed in jeans.

As the afternoon stretched in to the evening and later to night time we hear from each of the women about their unique experiences with Martin and his impact on them throughout their time together. We hear stories from them, where at the end of the account it is disclosed that the story had already been recounted by Martin years before, to the other women.

Frances tells us of her life as Martin’s wife, sharing moments where he teased her about the presence of Madeline in his, Angela Hill deftly sharing with us the slightly aloof manner she has needed to adopt to protect herself from the world she was living in. Madeline by contrast is ably played by Liz Kavanagh who shows herself to be cool and standoffish, clearly having no qualms about her history as ‘the other women’. Though after a long night walls begin to crumble.

The play is a wordy affair and I applaud the cast for learning such an amount. I did however think that at times the words were rushed and lacked appropriate time to given for us to enjoy the humour which punctuates throughout. Moments which should have had the audience howling were missed. The same for some of the moments of tension, the upper class accents preventing the projection which then meant we didn’t see the full extent of the emotions that the cast were capable of portraying.

In all this is a good play and the two cast members did a good job, allowing for first night nerves, I think that this has the potential to be a fine piece of theatre, once there is space given for pauses and to catch breath offering the audience the chance to fully enjoy Hare’s words.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

thelittletheatre.co.uk

The Breath of Life – is on February 3rd – 8th (Tickets priced as; Standard £17.50/Concessions £16.00/Premium £18.50) There are a variety of accessible options available.

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