Review: Mixed Doubles at Pinewood Theatre
Barrie Theobald • Published 27 Feb 2010 14:00
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THIS production, performed by students at The Rep College, was a clever entertainment portraying marriage at different stages of life, interspersed with a series of monologues by characters likely to be encountered by married couples at some stage of their time together; some were very humorous, some gave us food for thought.
All were very well acted and slickly presented, each member of the cast being required to portray several contrasting characters - something they all successfully accomplished with a minimum of stage props.
Each play required one male and one female performer, the four men and three ladies that comprised the cast being mixed to enable a succession of different couples to participate, while each actor also presented a monologue representing the people and professions likely to feature in a couple's life during the course of their marriage, ranging from vicar to divorce lawyer.
My favourite items were the opening play depicting a newly-wed couple travelling by train on their honeymoon and one involving a recalcitrant husband whose late arrival home from work completely upset his wife's plans to celebrate their silver wedding.
But I am sure all couples in the audience could also empathise in some way with the traumas of the tennis court, memories of first meetings, repetitive holidays and the monotony occasioned by humdrum lives together.
It was good to find that the aims of The Rep College are still being achieved by today's students.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 25 Feb 10
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