Welcome to town
Good (again!) to see some competently and entertainingly executed theatre from the students at St Martin’s College – and in town, too. It is absolutely right that their drama should not just be performed within the ivory or concrete tower, but be shared by the community, thus breaking down so many barriers. More, please.

Another striking feature of the St Martin’s run was my first visit to the Studio at The Dukes. What a hidden, and underused little gem of a space it is, too! Why does the Dukes not use it more? I have a feeling that music, particularly chamber music or perhaps a small jazz group, would sound well in there.

Round setting
I was also impressed that the Wilde was skilfully produced in the round, which is a difficult and specialised thing to do at any time, and particularly so with a play which we are so used to seeing in a proscenium setting.

The ‘round’ tradition goes back to the earliest recorded days of drama in classical Greece and, alas, is rarely seen these days, though my partner and I were lucky (in some senses, anyway) to see many productions from Shakespeare to contemporary pieces in Scarborough’s famed (and Art Deco) Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round. It is a shame that only the patriarchal, prolix and prolific Ayckbourn seems to promote the tradition nowadays.

Two different worlds?
For this ‘students-hit-the-town’ adventure, two pieces were performed: Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (21 – 24 January) and Charlotte Keating’s “My Mother Said I Never Should” the following week (27 – 31 January). This made an interesting pairing: with a gap of almost a century, the two plays show radically different views of society - whatever that is. Looking at it from this perspective, it is easy to see what Thatcher meant when she said that “There is no such thing as society”. Though I don’t think she meant it quite like that, though Oscar might well have agreed. He probably did.
Read my review of The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde

The second piece, on the other hand, is most assuredly about society – or rather the changes in society over the years of the twentieth century. The female perspective is all-important here – an authoress, an all-female cast and, appropriately, and all-women production. There can be no problems there and I enjoyed a fine and sensitive production, though I had problems within the play itself, which I found somehow too self-indulgent.
Read my review of My Mother Said I Never Should, by Charlotte Keating

I have grave reservations about generalisations of such a nature, but perhaps this is because I am a man. Certainly on the night we saw the play three-quarters of the audience were women (of all ages, be it said). But maybe it just comes down to personal tastes: some you like, some you don’t.

Be all that as it may, the main impression I bring away from these two excellent performances is that, just as at Bailrigg, there is some serious talent and ability for the theatre within Lancaster’s student community. This only enriches Lancaster’s already wide and strong theatrical palette all the more.

Copyright © 3 February 2004 Michael Nunn