Brighton's best...
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Shops and Love...
review The title "Three Short Plays about Shops and Love" does not exactly trip off the tongue. Neither does it do credit to the three wonderful scenarios to which we were treated this evening.New York in the 1950's, Turn of the Century Russia and 1960's Paris was the breadth of scope - all admirably achieved with the absolute minimum of staging but an excellent team of actors. Ross Gurney-Randall as Harry immediately draws us into his drugstore bar and the characters that inhabit it. In no time at all we are involved in the scene that unfolds. Beth Fitzgerald as Lara, a hardened New Yorker, wins over sympathy and when all romantic involvements are resolved satisfactorily one leaves Harry's Bar with a smile on the face. Our trip to Russia was, for me, the highlight of the evening. Gently farcical, the play moved along in its mildly surreal way. The vain Riskin as played by Ian Shaw was a great piece of comedic acting. Every conceited line he delivered with such innocence that you couldn't help but laugh. To match this vanity was the role of Mother played by Peta Taylor as a blustering, exasperated cross between Patricia Routledge and Edith Evans. She dominated the stage with her desperate attempts to hang onto middle-class respectability. The third piece - Metronome - was darker... at least, not as light as the first two. Played with equal skill, the couple, Duncan Henderson and Beth Fitzgerald are breaking up and it is what is not said that is so eloquent. Sam Hewitt's musical interlude to relieve the tension was a very funny moment indeed. It would be easy to dismiss the plays as trivial. Perhaps they are. But also superbly entertaining. Furthermore, it is a real joy to watch such competent actors involve us in three different countries in one evening.
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The Aquarium Theatre Bar
