The Actress
Written by Peter Quilter.
Directed by Arne Neeme. Canberra repertory Theatre, May 2-18 2024. Bookings:
62571950.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Esteemed actress Lydia Martin is
about to give her final performance as Lyuba Ranevsky in Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard. As Madame Ranexsky
is about to be forced from the cherry orchard that symbolizes her very
existence and reason for living so too is Martin about to forsake her beloved
stage and retire to Switzerland with her betrothed Charles. Like Prospero who
divests himself of his magical powers to depart from his island, so too does
the venerated actress harbour the fear that confronts her decision to leave her
lifelong profession. Playwright Peter Quilter demonstrates a deep understanding
of the female actor’s predicament and an empathy for his central character. His
play The Actress focuses grand dame of the theatre Lydia Martin, played
with commanding presence and theatrical
flair by Liz St Clair Long, She bestrides designer Andrew Kay’s compact
dressing room with the panache and authority of an old trouper. St Clair Long
gives a luminescent performance that lights up the Rep stage. She is every part
the revered leading lady of the British Repertory tradition, the doyenne of the
West End stage.
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| Liz St Clair Long plays Lydia Martin in The Actress |
Quilter peoples his play with characters who spin around in the great lady’s orbit. Under the experienced and insightful direction of Arne Meeme, the supporting cast are no mere functionaries. Each has developed a convincing and engaging persona. Sally Reynold is the loyal and grounded dresser , practical and a perfect foil for the volatile Martin. Reynold gives an understated and thoroughly plausible performance as the demure Katherine. It is in marked contrast to Jazmin Skopal’s spiteful mistress of the director and ascerbic theatre manager, Margaret. Quilter populates the dressing room with the three theatre personnel and contrasts this world with the people from outside. Martin’s daughter, Nicole, played with generational complexity by Kate Harris, effectively portrays the insecurities of a leading lady’s daughter. Jane Alquist gives an erratic and eccentric performance as the dipsomaniac agent Harriet, fearful of the loss of Martin from her books. The two male characters also depict the very different aspects of Martin’s life. Rob de Fries is the passionate, arrogant ex husband still devoted to Martin, while Saben Berrell gives a highly idiosyncratic performance as the infirm and bumbling Swiss banker, about to lead Martin into retirement by a Swiss lake.
Only the setting of Kay’s design puzzles
somewhat. The action of the play takes place in two locations – the dressing
room where the major action takes place and the dimly lit stage of the
theatre. Both areas have been distanced from the audience on separate sides of the stage and set at the back
of Rep’s stage. Neeme has also decided to play the excerpts from the final
moments of the Cherry Orchard with backs to the audience, possibly in tribute
to Stanislavski’s premier staging of the opening scene of The Seagull, where the
actors shocked the audience by having their backs to them. The stage is dark
and the characters play out their dialogue in semi darkness. The result may be
in both cases an occasional risk of alienation
and indistinct projection.
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| Kate Harris as daughter Nicole and Liz St Clair Long as Lydia Production photography: Alexandra Pelvin and Eve Murray |
Nonetheless, Canberra Rep’s production of The Actress offers a highly entertaining insight into the flaws and fears of a renowned and revered actor on the occasion of her farewell performance. Quilter’s characters are sharply drawn, and, one imagines, from experience. Neeme’s direction sharply observes the comical and the tragi-comical. He and his actors probe the complex motives of their actions in a production that rings with emotional truths.
The Actress certainly holds a mirror up to a repertory theatre’s nature. Theatre people and anyone grappling with discarding the old for the new will identify with this well staged glimpse into Lydia Martin’s dressing room.
