An impressive directorial debut, overseeing a tight and flowing production that delivered well on all counts.
The Lichfield Players last week set up camp in The Garrick Theatre Studio for their production of Sheila’s Island, the female-led counterpart to writer Tim Firth’s earlier work, Neville’s Island.
The play centres around four rather different middle-aged Managers, played by Rebecca Hyland, Natalie Whittlesea, Kerrie Short and Christina Thompson-Yates, who get lost on a ‘Team Building’ weekend in The Lake District. It mixes developing tension with sharply-observed comedy, as the women strive to find common ground and, ultimately, a way out of their temporary hell.
This is a well travelled premise. Throw a bunch of disparate people together somewhere they can’t escape from each other and watch the sparks fly! Think Lord of The Flies. It’s a formula that works well as a piece of theatre, and it certainly worked here.
The themes are strong and fairly universal. Friendship. Grief. Spiritual reflection. Survival. All were explored well and given space to breathe under Rachel Kisley’s well-paced direction.
The key, though, is the dynamics of each character and how their differences are explored and vented. Firth gives his characters distinct traits that serve to add rising tension as time passes.
There’s ‘Denise’ (Natalie) … sharp, sarcastic, caustic and not one to suffer fools.
‘Sheila’ (Rebecca) … the elected team leader. Optimistic, and keen to mediate – but more well-meaning than useful!
‘Julie’ (Christina) … The Scouse one. Well prepared (if you call bringing a spatula well prepared), with a bottomless rucksack full of ‘stuff’. Her spats with Denise run throughout the play and are nicely played out.
And last but not least, there is ‘Fay’ (Kerrie) … The quiet, spiritual one, with a delicate disposition and prone to over-sensitivity.
It’s a hotchpotch of personalities and that, of course, is the point. Petty niggles become full blown arguments as food becomes scarce and nerves are rattled.
The play worked well in the more intimate surroundings of The Studio, allowing expressions and detailed bits of business to be clear and easily picked up.
Andrew Bodger and Dan Benton’s set was suitably atmospheric and set up the Island location well – no easy task in a black box theatre space.
While the main themes are serious, the play is certainly not without lighter moments. Tragedy and comedy, as Shakespeare demonstrated, are never far apart.
Rachel made an impressive directorial debut, overseeing a tight and flowing production that delivered well on all counts.
Check out lichfieldplayers.co.uk for details of up coming productions.