Improbable Fiction

Improbable Fiction is not your typical Alan Ayckbourn play...” - for your information when the opening to a Director’s notes is this, it’s not a good sign.

Before we go any further into this, allow us to add a quick disclaimer: after a year of being together (as Matt & Hannah, the couple) we’ve finally created something, preparation for kids I suppose. Basically, what we’re saying is bare with us if we have a ‘domestic’…

Having worked on Ayckbourn's Absent Friends last year, we, along with the majority of BLT’s members, probably could imagine what this play would be like. However, from the second the curtain rose for Act 1 we all learnt that assumption can be deceiving.

Those of you who have seen Simon Clark’s past directorial credits will remember 2006’s Metamorphosis - a listed piece of physical theatre, with its mass amount of mimes forming a welcome and relevant part of the play. Within Improbable Fiction, they bared no purpose other than to extend an already long play. The show opened with Joni Mitchell’s Bad Dreams Are Good, which underscored the show’s first of many mimes. In these opening five minutes the audience were already restless and uninterested in what was to come.

The first act was total Ayckbourn; the characters representing real people in a real situation. So before we condemn the play anymore let’s move onto the actors.

For us the star of the night had to be Tim Betts’ Arnold Hassock. Tim, who is still quite new and naïve to this art we call a lifestyle, took the lead character role and made it his own. Some people were commenting that sometimes Tim’s voice dipped down into un-hearable. We had no problem hearing him from the back of the auditorium, and, to be fair, even if we hadn’t who would we be to comment on not being able to hear someone? Tim bought Arnold to life, sporting a ‘Phil Swallow’ impression to die for, and a cardigan which was un-deniably rejected by Wallace and Gromit. Tim’s earlier mentioned naïvety helped make this characterisation what it needed to be; I loved his twitching the most.

Anyway, enough of the Tim Betts Appreciation Society!

Next onstage was Ilsa Wolby, played to perfection by one of our best young actors, Jo Rosewell. Ilsa was a friend of Arnold from their workplace of ‘Creswell’s’ (finest mince pies in …Ayckbourn’s mind?). Jo brought across the simplicity of Ilsa with perfection, we won’t comment why. One thing that concerned me …did she get on the motorbike in that skirt? Why can’t I follow motorbikes as interesting as that…

Subsequently was the bundle of energy of Jess Bales, mastered by the ever-modest Adele Deakins. We learnt after the show that Adele was playing herself down backstage. So here we go to make sure she never does that again. Jess Bales was a false woman no doubt, she spent the whole of the first act with the front of a woman who was rude and abrupt. However, at the end of the act we suddenly saw her character breakdown to Arnold. This was done very well by Adele, who, as we heard earlier, had been practising it backstage.

After receiving some eggs from Jess, Arnold’s house welcomed its next guest, Grace Sims. Jan Greenhough woke us all up with her coat which everyone wishes they owned even if they won’t admit it. Grace’s story was a sad one in the middle of a comedy, she was desperate to present her vivid imagination in a children’s book, much to the disapproval of her fellow writers and husband.

Then the presence of Vivvi Dickins provided the stage with a source of excitement and intrigue, as Charlie Mafham played an avid journalist full of exhilaration. Compared to fellow writers, it seemed as though Vivvi was the keener one, at one point working on three pieces of work.

Clem Pepp, played by Simon Clark, proved yet again how different and unique these writers were. Clem was obsessed with the ‘Unknown’, and had a fascination for everything Sci-Fi. Simon managed to present this character very well, at some points providing humorous one-liners and showed just how talented an actor he really is.

Finally, the stage felt the presence of Brevis Winterton, played by Brian Calloway. No-one knew quite what to expect, as it was Brian’s BLT debut. He appeared to try really hard embracing the role of the eccentric teacher, but somehow was below the mark - and it was clear that he had not learnt his lines, which was a disappointment for the audience.

The show wouldn't have been a show if it wasn’t for the crew, and they deserve a mention for the hard work they put into it. Julie Cocker led the backstage crew, and as usual let the play run flawlessly. Special mention to Keith and Christina Jeremiah who, joined with Brian Burch, put together an excellent array of sound. Phil Swallow and Tim Betts designed the lights which proved critical to the change in time throughout the play. Jess Hull did a great job in providing a wide array of costumes to suit each character and era.

It would be unfair to say that after three successful productions in 2008 that Improbable Fiction was a letdown, more so because of the hard work put in by the cast and crew. However, it didn’t quite meet the standard of its predecessors, but, as usual, Simon Clark’s direction broke the mould of typical BLT.



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