Beautiful House – Library Theatre, Manchester

Writer: Cathy Crabb

Director: Noreen Kershaw

Reviewer: John Roberts

The Public Reviews Rating:

It’s fantastic to see two of the regions repertoire theatres (Bolton Octagon, Library Theatre) really getting behind and supporting new writing and the fringe theatre that is being produced in and around Manchester. It’s also a great achievement for Oldham based writer Cathy Crabb to see her twice previously performed fringe production Beautiful House given a fully realised professional production by The Library Theatre as part of their final season in their current home of The Central Library.

Ronnie (John Henshaw) and Bridgette (Janice Connolly) are a middle aged company, having moved from their affluent house in Delph and moved into a flat in the middle of Salford so their dying daughter can stay in the home that she loved as a child and live her final days in relative peace with her husband. In the flat below live Egypt obsessed Paula (Sally Carman) & her life partner Otis (James Foster) but the relationship between the two couples are at best tense and the reality of both their situations are brought out in full force thanks to the hilarious and often highly moving script by Crabb.

Noreen Kershaw has been given the task of bringing this tale of personal morality and mortality vividly to life on stage, her experience in comedy directing shines through every moment of this production. Kershaw has managed to bring out fantastic performances from the strong cast but always making sure that the elements of tension, pathos and humour are balanced perfectly, making sure centre of attention is always Crabb’s script. Designer Dawn Allsopp brings a touch of working class chic to her revolving set of the two living rooms of both couples, with enough small details which often make the set an almost fifth character.

Connolly & Henshaw both bring well turned out performances and although to start off with Henshaw was a little wobbly, once the show was in full swing he really took to the part and produced a performance that was powerful and full of emotion. The production’s strength though lie in the performances of Foster & Carman. Carman is feisty and full of raw energy as she threats over the rights and wrongs of bringing up her daughter the right way, but still managing to say the wrong thing at the wrong moment. Foster shines in the role, no surprise considering he has played Otis in the two previous productions, bringing a unique if not slightly naive feel to the character, which balances nicely with Carman’s strong and overbearing Paula.

It must be said though that this is by no means a perfect production, and at just under two hours with an interval, you can with a little bit of trimming of the slightly long feeling first half have a punchy and almost perfectly formed one act play running at a tight 90minutes. However Crabb’s script with Kershaw’s direction makes for a fantastic evening of theatre.

A night that will not only leave you with tears in your eyes from laughing, but also of the deeply touching situation the characters find themselves in, the only crying shame is that it is not being given a longer run!