FROM THE ARCHIVES

The Bright and Bold Design at The Company of Players (Hertford) 01
Season: 2023-2024
12th – 20th April 2024 at 7:45pm The Bright and Bold Design
By Peter Whelan  
Directed By  Jan Palmer Sayer

In the North Staffordshire Potteries in the 1930s, Jessie Frost works for a small traditional firm, hand painting traditional designs in the time honoured fashion… until the arrival of Jim Rhys as the firm’s new art director. A man possessed with both high ambition and strong views of the future, Jim’s views on design create tension with the factory owner, and his political beliefs gradually lead him into conflict within the small community. But in Jessie Frost, Jim recognises a special talent, one which he promptly sets out to nurture though not necessarily with her blessings. The result is a play of great warmth, charm, passion and grace, an exploration of the true nature of the art of politics, and the politics of art.

CAST

Ulik Devlin
Hector Brabant
Raymond Parker
Violet Chappel
Jessie Frost
Ada Lovatt
Joyce Murray
Mabel Cooper

CREATIVE TEAM


Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Lighting Design
Fight Arrangement
Set Design

REVIEW

When you see a show directed by Jan Palmer Sayer, you know you are probably in for a treat. The technical team and actors her previous work attracts underscore her huge body of work, and people want to work with good people and do great plays… and, of course, have fun! Jan facilitates all of that, and we were not disappointed with The Bright and Bold Design.

Confidence was immediately high as we walked into the auditorium and saw the wonderful set for the first time, and took our seats. We looked forward to just sitting back and enjoying the evening. I know nothing about the play, but reading the programme notes, the set looked completely appropriate. Wooden floor throughout, the slightly raised office area at the back with transparent walls, the decorating room with its beautifully made workbenches with stools cleverly stowed underneath worked a treat.

Each table was fitted with castors so they could be effortlessly manoeuvred on, off, and around the stage with wonderful precision and slick choreography. Jan gets this aspect of her productions right so often: there’s nothing worse than the terrible, clunky scene changes we see all too often in amateur theatre, consistently ruining the flow of the scenes and taking the audience out of the environment of the play and out of the moment. Frankly, I don’t want to see stage managers tiptoeing around in blacks, ‘unseen’, changing the set – it’s passé, has no place in modern theatre and should be avoided at all costs. The Bright and Bold Design stage was a beautiful stage-management-free zone for this production, with the cast treating us to various 1920s/30s songs sung a cappella while changing the scenes, and it worked brilliantly. If I am honest, I would have loved to have heard some tight ‘Boswell Sister-esque’ harmonies, but that’s pretty picky, as all the scene changes were lovely little performance pieces in themselves and guided us nicely through the scenes.

The lighting was great, and I really liked the careful use of a light mist even in this small theatre. Used with this kind of moderation, it really helps with the atmosphere and enhances the lighting enormously. The soundscape was also very good overall. With the odd exception, it was never a recording needs to be long enough to hide any obvious looping. I was very aware of the repeating loop in the decorating shop and the wood pigeon in the second half.

The props felt very authentic and appropriately old, but I would say that the costumes, although they looked and felt perfect in terms of design style and era, needed to be less clean and new-looking. These are poor people, and I think there would have been repairs, maybe spills, and a real ‘dullness’ to their hue – certainly their workwear. I would suggest they would only have ‘work’ wear and ‘best’ wear – little else in between. Again, this is perhaps a little too picky.

The five “paintresses” worked well together. There was an ease and familiarity about their interactions and a subtle yet apparent hierarchy between them. Hazel Halliday’s Ada seemed to be the leader of the shop in name only and beautifully portrayed the disappointment of perhaps not being wholly appreciated or respected by the management, which led to some lovely subtle comedy moments. Hannah Leonard as Joyce Murray gave a wonderfully natural performance with some perfectly timed one-liners enjoying a well-deserved response from the audience.

Chloë Evans as Violet developed nicely throughout the play, from her first appearance as the eager-to-please junior to the more confident ‘old hand’ showing new apprentice Raymond the ropes when he joined in Act 2. William Barnes captured Raymond’s naivety and sweet nervous energy around all these women very well indeed. Julia Arundale portrayed Mabel with an inner strength and outward calm and led much of the singing with her beautiful voice.

Des Turner always gives a solid performance, and his depiction of Hector Brabant was no different. Played with a lovely bumbling awkwardness partnered with a strong political will, he was a joy to watch. His socialist sparring partner, new manager of the decorating shop, Jim Rhys, was played confidently by Stephen Deaville – a large and difficult role executed with passion and precision. His wife Grace, played by Kyriana Georgiou Delisle, had a light comedy edge, which was a nice contrast to her husband’s more serious demeanour. Chris Janes’ Ulik looked fantastic, moved with the physicality of a much older man, and was totally believable as the wretched alcoholic father-figure.

Alice Croot is a very talented actor, and her performance as the purposeful and ambitious Jessie Frost was naturally delivered and played with an underlying brittle edge – you felt she might break at any moment. A ticking time bomb who, by the end of the play, could no longer hide her devastation. It’s always great to watch uninhibited performances, and she has a great facility to allow herself to be, and stay in the moment. I did feel that the relationship between the two protagonists, Jim and Jessie, could have been explored further, as I felt there was a lack of chemistry and attraction where I believe it was needed. This may well be the writing, but I felt the audience could have been taken on a forbidden rollercoaster of sexual tension warranting the emotional explosion from Jessie at the end of the play, the strength of which left me slightly confused.

A couple of minor points for me, which are the type of missed details often seen in amateur theatre but rarely in Jan’s productions, were the unnecessary sweeping of a clearly clean floor and the rushed pouring of ‘tea’. Yes, I know this sounds petty, but the pouring of the tiniest splash of boiling water, clearly not tea, was unrealistic, a moment missed, and easy to avoid –  but maybe this is just a ‘John’ thing.

Retrospectively, I am not 100% sure the play itself works fully. It seems to me that there are several story threads moving through to and none of them present themselves, develop, or resolve with full clarity. However, overall this was an extremely strong and well-executed production in every area and once again highlights the breadth of talent at The Company of Players. Thank you for a very enjoyable evening.

COMING UP...

By Laura Wade
4th – 12th April 2025
By Amelia Bullmore
13th – 21st June 2025

DON’T FORGET

OUR NEXT PRODUCTION