Gentle, entertaining, true to the book and the film – a charming play filled with wonderful talent
It’s been a while since I saw the film, and I have not read the book – These Foolish Things, by Deborah Moggach – but my hopes of a warm, funny, truth-telling storyline, with the preferred happy ending, were not to be dashed. It’s not an exciting play, most certainly not a fast-moving play, but it is a very satisfying play.
There’s a large cast, including some names from decades it is a thrill to see on the playbill, never mind live on stage, which means, of course, a storyline made from a multitude of threads. Each character has their own backstory, and as most are long past retirement age, those stories are long, often complicated, and sad. The whole premise revolves around age – and our views of it. There are many amusing references to the British attitude towards ‘old people’ - not great, let’s face it, with our preference for care homes over home care, and paid carers rather than family carers – and perhaps the laughter these generate has a smidge of discomfort to it, and a little irony too, as the audience is most definitely ‘mature’.
The hotel they have chosen to retire to is also aged, and fading. A last-ditch effort by the owners to save their business has led them to advertise as a residential retirement hotel, but the plumbing, the drunken cook and the mushrooms growing from the walls were most definitely not listed in their brochure. Just as we learn the stories of the residents, we learn the story of the hotel, once a stunning colonial residence, loved and admired, now falling apart. There is here, however, an opportunity – a final adventure for the residents, and a revival for this once-glorious property.
The cast is wonderful – Hayley Mills (tiny, delicate, yet with huge stage presence), Rula Lenska (beautiful, bold, brash and just as you remember her), and Paul Nicholas (who made my mother’s heart beat faster back in the 80s, and whose cheeky smile has not faded) show us just why they earned their stellar reputations. In their hands, the slightly barbed humour is perfectly delivered – laughter results, but tempered with recognition. Rula Lenska, as Madge, plays a fierce, sassy woman in search of a man, and doesn’t hold back when it comes to putting them in their place. Hayley Mills’ Evelyn finds her own voice too, and is equally frustrated by the idiocy of men, declaring at one point “I wish I’d been a lesbian!”, before kicking said males into action. Paul Nicholas is the classic hen-pecked husband, who hasn’t realised until now how unhappy he is – but what will he do about it?
We look at old people as ‘past it’, but past what? We see their past as boring, no more than snapshots, black and white photos of places and fashions now alien to us – but these are the people who first went to Glastonbury, who marched for women’s rights, who made the discoveries and laid the path for all we enjoy today. They’ve had their rebellions, now it’s time for our respect. This is what this play reminds us of – and does it with good humour, too.
Perhaps the best word to describe this play is gentle. There are moments of fun and laughter, moments of pathos and pain, moments of self-recognition and moments of pure satisfaction, as we watch our characters tell their stories, develop and change – regaining some of the fire and verve of their youth, perhaps. The set is great – a crumbling yet still elegant hotel. The cast is marvellous. The storyline gentle yet probing – you won’t leave without doing a bit of thinking. And the ending – well, who doesn’t love a bit of Bhangra music and dance?
