Review – Quartet
Date Reviewed: 18th April, 2009
Venue: Oldham Coliseum
Quartet by Ronald Harwood has an excellent premise. Set in a retirement home for faded opera singers where the residents are growing old disgracefully the story brings together four such singers with distinguished careers behind them and with intrinsically linked pasts setting the scene for a light story of rekindled friendships in old age.
The potential for eccentric and hilarious characterisations is great and the play is an ideal vehicle for more mature actors so it’s a real shame that this production at the Oldham Coliseum doesn’t reflect the calibre of talent of the four performers or reach the heights its potential suggests.
Unfortunately Quartet strikes me as a poorly written play which is rendered melodramatic and almost ridiculous under the direction of Kevin Shaw, but I am sure this isn’t entirely his fault. Despite making excellent use of Dawn Allsopp’s lovely set he is hindered by a story that just doesn’t go anywhere, particularly losing its way in act 2, with little or no real motivation for any of the action. The characters are very one dimensional and it’s difficult to find any reason to genuinely care about what’s taking place on the stage.
Having said that, there are some amusing moments mostly provided by Roberta Kerr as former mezzo singer Cecily whose decline into senility is in its infantile stages and is beginning to be noticed by her retirement home companions. Kerr clearly has a flair for physical comedy and is very funny and energetic throughout. Equally as outrageous in a more smutty sense is Russell Dixon as Wilf, the bass singer of the group, although his diction at times leaves a lot to be desired.
Sadly, Col Farrell is lumbered with the least interesting of the four characters but he nevertheless plays Reginald with dignity in the face of the sudden reappearance in his life of his former love Jean, a former operatic star with a complicated history played by Anny Tobin in an over the top performance that, at times, wouldn’t be out of place in pantomime but at other times is genuinely moving.
The Coliseum has an excellent reputation for producing good quality theatre for the whole age range but despite there being enough amusement in Quartet to provide an evening’s entertainment the production overall fails to live up to their usual high standards and ultimately disappoints.
-Malcolm Wallace