Single Spies
March 18, 2008
Single Spies
Venue: Theatre Royal
Date Reviewed: 17th March, 2008
Single Spies is a double bill by Alan Bennett that first saw life at the National Theatre in 1988. When the production toured shortly afterwards, and appeared at this very theatre, it starred Prunella Scales as Coral Browne and the Queen, which I can still recall.
In this tour we have Nigel Havers and Diana Quick playing the lead roles with Jack Ryder (Jamie in Eastenders and married to Kym Marsh) disappointingly not having the opportunity to demonstrate his acting skills as both of his roles (Tolya and Colin) are little more than cameos.
The first play An Englishman Abroad (only forty minutes) is the stronger part of the double and gives Havers the chance to play against type as Guy Burgess, who has been living in Moscow for many years.
When he meets actress Coral Browne (Quick) backstage as she tours in a play, he invites her to join him in his dingy flat for lunch. But there is on instruction , she must bring a tape measure.
She finds he is a man missing the gossip of London life and wants her to take his measurements and arrange a new suit from his London tailor. Quick keep lapsing in to Browne’s native Australian accent just enough so it is both noticeable and effective.
Browne actually played herself in the TV version of the play and as she is actually looking back on the meeting with Burgess managed to overcome the fact she was a lot older than she was when the meeting took place.
Havers as Burgess gives a rounded in depth performance and it is the best I have ever seen him. Instead of the smart suits (which we do glimpse) we have him as the fallen double agent dressed in a baggy pair of trousers and a T Shirt, not the image you associate with Havers.
The story is driven along with Browne talking direct to the audience about her meeting and how she ordered his clothes when she returned to England.
The final moments as snow falls on Burgess flat are quite moving and it is in this play that Havers and Quick do justice to Bennetts writing.
In a Question of Attribution, which takes up the second part of the evening, we have Havers as Anthony Blunt who is replacing one of the paintings in Buckingham Palace, when the Queen unexpectedly arrives .
Unfortunately Quick neither looks like the Queen , nor captures her voice or any of her mannerisms. She dons a wig in a style that certainly reminds you of Her Majesty and wears a twin set with a checked skirt, but it is not enough.
We also have Havers as the smartly dressed Blunt, who at the time the play was set, was still not known publicly as a spy.
Unfortunately Director Christopher Luscombe fails to allow the cast to make the most of Bennetts script in this play and where “Englishman” had been riveting and funny, “ Attribution” becomes tiresome and feels longer than its hour running time.
It is always a joy to revisit a Bennett play and if only the momentum of “An Englishman Abroad” had carried on throughout the evening we would have had a fantastic revival, unfortunately this is not the case.
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