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Benefactors, Broadstone Players, War Memorial Hall, Broadstone

MICHAEL Frayn’s name is probably best known for his comedies Noises Off and Donkey’s Years, but this play is totally different and is a comedy only in its very darkest sense.

Told in flashback and narrated in turn by each of the four characters, the story is ostensibly about a development project for a South London area of nineteenth century housing. Its main focus though is on the fact that however well we think we know each other we really remain strangers, constantly misjudging others’ motives.

As the plot progresses, the two couples – successful architect David (Gerry Carroll) & his anthropologist wife Jane (Jenny Hughes) and hack journalist turned protestor Colin (Barry Baynton) & his worn-down wife Sheila (Sheila Dove) – undergo dramatic life changes as uncomfortable truths are realised.

Director Peter Watson has done a fine job with this production – and with the display of architectural plans at the rear of the auditorium – and despite the necessarily fairly static nature of the play I found myself drawn into the story. This was in no small measure due to the exceptional performances of both Jenny Hughes and Sheila Dove, both of whom made me feel that their characters were completely genuine.

Linda Kirkman

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