Folks who know me very well often say, kindly I think, that
I should get out more. I’m a grumpy old sod at the best of times and in the
world of theatrical reviewing I have ruffled many a feather. Don’t mean to, but
I have this incorrigible habit of saying what I think. Fine if I am being
praiseworthy but not so nice if I think something stinks. My doctor is giving
me tablets in the hope of curing this strange tendency to blog my opinions. Won’t
work of course. Opinions are only valid if they are honest. Don’t have to be
right, there is no scientific measurement of a theatrical opinion, just have to
be genuinely felt. This one is.
I do occasionally get
out more. Regularly to Sidmouth, a heavenly Victorian seaside town on the East
Devon coast. Been there at least ten times in the last fifteen years or so. I
love its Jurassic rocks, rich and red, framing a magnificent bay. I love its
old fashioned promenade and its quaint shops. I love its super hotels, The Westcliff,
The Victoria, The Belmont, and The Riviera. I love its mild climate and the way
all in this place go to sleep at about nine o’clock. And I love its theatre.
The Sidmouth Manor Pavilion. Every year Charles and Imogen Vance put on a
summer festival of plays. They run from June to September. This year was their
26th season. I have managed to take in a play or two on at least ten
of their seasons and over the last few years I have grown to love one of its
actors. Next to the late and much lamented R F Delderfield, a novelist who
should be up there with Dickens, that actor, James Pellow, must be Sidmouth’s
most favourite son.
Mr Pellow has been with Sidmouth for nine seasons and I
reckon I have picked up one or two of his performances in at least six of them.
He never disappoints, from subtle performances in Rebecca and September Tide
to quirky characters in Barefoot in the
Park and a magnificent production of Sleuth
(2011), he absolutely grips in whatever he does. And when you bear in mind
that I am seeing one of an assembly line of portrayals, Summer Rep is like that,
it makes them even more amazing. Here is an actor who has to learn and create
in a week. This year the Vance season did fourteen plays and he would be in an
awful lot of them. He could be forgiven if he just went through a bit of rote
line learning coupled with a touch of professional aplomb. Perhaps he does but
it doesn’t come over like that. His portrayals have a sincerity and truth that
gifted amateurs take months to create and in which many professionals, given
the tight Rep schedule, fail. My early experiences of Sidmouth, pre Mr Pellow,
frequently saw that. But he reminds me of the late James Hazeldine. He started
his acting life at Birmingham Rep in the sixties and I was a regular attendee.
He knocked me out for his truthful weekly portrayals in such pot boilers as Hot and Cold in all Rooms and The Farmers Wife. An amazing actor my young
reviewing nose thought. Went on to greater fame at the Royal Court and The National
Theatre before sadly dying, too young. James Pellow has his gift. Creates a character
in five minutes and gives any production essential gravitas. I love Sidmouth
and I love its Summer Season at the Manor Pavilion. Especially while it has Mr Pellow.
A late visit to this favourite place this year and just
managed to take in Charles and Imogen Vance’s fourteenth of fourteen. J B Priestley’s
An Inspector Calls. That famous play
where the smug industrial Birlings get their comeuppance at the hands of a
mysterious inspector. Some nice performances, especially Sarah Griffin and Rhys
Lawton as the engaged couple whose fragile relationship is increasingly seared
by the revelations, and including a strong, if quirky one, from the aggressive
leprechaun of Alec Gray’s Inspector Goole. Realistic Edwardian set even if it
gave little opportunity for anyone to sit down. Gripping evening and thoroughly
enjoyable. And James Pellow? He played Arthur Birling, northern industrialist
desperate for his knighthood and continuing respectability. Naked familial
emotions counted little against his promised gong. Lovely portrayal. But then his
always are. And that is where I came in.
Roy Hall
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