ALLEGRA

Photos: Marc Brenner

It’s only part way into Peter Quilter‘s new play that we discover why she is called Allegra. Musical parents bestow upon their children whimsical names, names that perhaps change the way they look at life. And before very long we become perhaps aware of the fact that it is not Allegra at all but allegory.

Maureen Lipman is truly splendid in the role. Her balance of reason and craziness is a delight, her ability to captivate the audience and dominate the stage is second to none. It is a fine comedic performance, her delivery of a line so expertly timed and her extraordinary physicality certainly belies her years, and forgive me for mentioning a ladies age, but in this case it is a necessary pointer. The way she moves, falls and dances around is quite extraordinary and no doubt very tiring, especially as this was a two show day with a matinee that afternoon.

John Middleton plays the younger brother with such charm, he too knowing exactly how to time a comedic moment. His love and concern for his extraordinary sister is so very believable, as is his loyalty to a wife in what we are told is perhaps a loveless marriage. This is a fine performance tinged with sadness.

Into their lives comes Anna, a Czech carer with troubles of her own, two kids, four dogs and a husband, surely enough for anyone to deal with…

But she choses to go out to work, a job so undervalued, certainly by the government and local authorities, but never by those of us who have in some way had to use the services offered by the caring professionals who take on what on one level may seem like a bit of cleaning and shopping, but is more often than that the emotional support that so many users rely upon. Elizabeth Bower is just that, caring is perhaps her escape from her domestic world but she undertakes it with a genuine sense of concern and indeed love.

Bailey Patrick is the affable buffoon of a police officer charged with the dismal task of dealing with Allegra’s misdemeanours as she irritates the shopkeepers and neighbours with her musical endeavours to spread a little joy. It’s very much a copper in the Dixon of Dock Green mould and all the better for that in not clinging to the current portrayal that most cops are at best uncaring and at worst corrupt.

The whole maybe be billed as a comedy, and in fairness it is very funny with some great lines throughout, in particular a cocaine gag that Lipman delivers with aplomb. But beneath the laughs is a sad truth, the truth that for so many, modern life is a joyless experience, you are born, you work and you die. And into that world comes Allegra who, through song, tries to spread some happiness, only to be beaten down by a society filled with the intolerant and the oppressors. A society who for too long have dealt with people who we now classify as neurodivergent with drugs, drugs that strip away the highs and leave people in a befuddled low, a low that is easier to manage.

Stephen Mear has directed with a delicate hand, the truths are not hammered home but allowed to gradually emerge. The structure of the whole, with the sometimes crazy musical numbers is delivered with skill, we are both inside and outside of Allegra’s head, full on razzamatazz one minute, gentle nostalgia the next and it makes for a very entertaining evening. Justin Williams’ set is a busy depiction of the cluttered chaos of Allegra’s world, the eclectic selection of chairs that she declares should come complete with a chiropractor, some strange geography and a set of tricksy plates that unnecessarily become baseballs, but for the most part it works well and the costumes from Anna’s trim outfits, Ronen’s drudgery and Allegra’s flamboyant ram-raid of a charity shop style work well.

As an allegorical tale of the stripping of joy from a modern world where daily we are confronted with all kinds of horrors, it makes a very fine and relevant point.

Andrew Kay

14 May

Theatre Royal Brighton

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