A PLAY within a play always poses a logistical nightmare for even the most seasoned of directors and actors.
But Wokingham Theatre pulled this feat off with style with their production of Arthur Wing Pinero’s Trelawny of the Wells.
The play tells the story of Rose Trelawny (Savannah Cook), a young starlet who has grown up at The Wells Theatre, who discovers her talents beginning to fade when she steps out into the ‘real world’ upon her engagement to aristocrat Arthur Gower (James Johnstone).
When the couple go to stay with Arthur’s grandfather, Sir William Gower (Alan Long) and his great-aunt Trafalgar Gower (Hedda Bird), it becomes clear that Rose is not the high society lady that Arthur’s family is craving for him. Likewise, Rose find herself bored stiff by what is expected of her (very little) and longs to be back with her friends at the theatre.
When her friends Imogen Parrott (Ali Robson), Ferdinand Gadd (Matthew Page) and Augustus Colpoys (Marc Reid) pay Rose an unexpected visit to her new residence in Cavendish Square, she makes her mind up to break off her engagement and return to her roots at The Wells. However, when she does return to the stage, she finds her acting and singing abilities have been trodden down, and she struggles to find work.
Heartbroken Arthur hatches a plan with aspiring playwright Tom Wrench (Adam Bell) to win back his love, and the duo go about trying to save their friends’ careers, the theatre and Rose and Arthur’s marriage.
Set in traditional Dickensian fashion, you would not expect Trelawny… to be as funny as it is. The biggest laughs of the evening come from Long and Bird as the elder Gowers, with Sir William’s comic refrain ‘have we no chairs here?’, said in typical plummy yuppy style, has the audience roaring. Reid’s Colpoys delivers plenty of slapstick throughout, breaking up some lengthy dialogue with his childlike silliness, and Lydia Massey plays the matriarchal Mrs Mossop incredibly well.
The staging is wonderfully detailed, and the idea of getting the cast to strike the set between scenes themselves, as if they were putting on the play at The Wells, is a stroke of genius, and keeps the audience engaged through what could have been some awkwardly drawn-out scene changes. The costumes are exquisite, and a true testament to the hard work of the wardrobe team behind the scenes.
Trelawny… is not the sort of play you would expect to see at Christmas time, there is not even the slightest hint of festive overkill, which, if you are sick to the back teeth of nativities and pantomimes, is a welcome relief.
Trelawny of the Wells runs until Saturday, December 10. For tickets, visit www.wokingham-theatre.co.uk.
