Review - Independent Means
Date Reviewed: 29th October, 2008
Venue: The Library Theatre
At a time of downturns and endless mentions of the Credit Crunch, Stanley Houghton’s hundred-year old play, Independent Means, feels surprisingly relevant.
Throw into the mix a storyline concerning the suffragettes, some romance, and a light sprinkling of comedy, and it is yet another enjoyable production from the Library Theatre Company.
Houghton’s play focusess on the lives of an upper-class family, the Forsyths, who fall on hard times largely due to unwise decisions regarding stocks and shares on the part of the father, John. This affects the whole family but most especially John’s son Edgar and his new wife, Sidney, a feminist, suffragist and all-round independent woman.
The acting is excellent, with some fine comic turns from Richard Albrecht as Samuel Ritchie, a friend of the Forsyths, Sarah Parks as Jane, the maid and, perhaps surprisingly, Ruth Gibson as the potentially shrewish Sidney. Instead of alienating the audience with her forthright views, the blatant sexism of the male; Forsyths makes Sidney our proxy on the stage and we find ourselves rooting for her.
Written at a time before women were granted the vote, at its first performance in 1909 this play would have been shocking for the way it promoted women’s liberation. In 2008, it is the chauvinistic comments of the male characters which draw gasps, tuts and laughter from the audience.
Sarah Williamson’s stage design requires a special mention with the turn-of-the-century drawing room represented in exquisite detail and utterly convincing in its decoration. The transformation to the offices of a motor depot in the later stages of the play is cleverly done and once again provides a striking backdrop for the action. Chris Honer’s direction is also cleverly done, especially the use of off-stage dialogue and the use of the ‘inner office’ of the depot, as it provides great comedy.
This is an excellent and funny production. On the night I was attended, the laughter from the audience seemed to take the cast by surprise and there were a number of occasions when dialogue was lost, as a result. However, it is still early in the run and I have no doubt the performers will leave longer pauses.
Independent Means is immense fun and a feast for the eyes, and although society has changed greatly in the last hundred years, the play still has plenty of relevant messages for today.
Vintage stuff and timeless, so go and enjoy!
-Calum Kerr