Century Church Theatre’s Quartet by Ronald Harwood is a must see production – a best buy ticket on the Ontario summer theatre circuit.
Quartet, directed by John Snowdon, is set in an English retirement home at a country house in Kent.
The residents, primarily opera singers, are for the most part charity cases. The play is a touching, bittersweet comedy about four of those residents, whose performances together in Verdi’s Rigoletto, many years earlier, marked a highlight in their careers.
Three of them – Reggie (tenor), Cissy (contralto), and Wilf (baritone) – share much of their time in the music room. Here, the only interruptions to the quiet of their existence are either the occasional outburst from Reggie, raging at a nurse who gives him apricot jam instead of marmalade at breakfast, or the infectious giggles of Cissy ogling the gardener’s muscles from her French window vantage point.
That relative quiet is shattered with the arrival of Jean (soprano), the quintessential diva with an attitude that has lost neither pride nor self-adulation. She was briefly married to Reggie several marriages ago – an event which Reggie has been trying to erase from his conscious thought from the marriage’s end to the present.
To up the emotional ante, Jean’s arrival triggers a request from the entertainment committee for the four to sing the Rigoletto quartet for the home’s annual Verdi birthday party.
At the risk of spoiling a single moment of enjoyment, more should not be said of how the story develops from that point forward – to a wonderfully sweet conclusion.
Neville Worsnop’s portrayal of Reggie is at once eloquent in substance and meticulous in delivery. His astute ability to deliver the reserved, while holding the emotional just under the surface, makes it all the more hilarious when he erupts in tirades over the marmalade and the more meaningful when exploding in a serious outburst.
Brenda Barr’s Cissy is absolutely delightful and the energy she provides for all to draw upon – performers and audience – is central to the strength of this production.
She creates an endearing performance, at times child-like in its enthusiasm, which delicately drifts between the lucid and confused moments of her character in the early stages of dementia.
There is a seamless connection between actor and character in Chris Worsnop’s performance of Wilf. His comic delivery, physically and verbally, is without fault and this he counter-balances with a genuine warmth when showing concern for each of the other characters at their assailable moments of weakness.
Pat Boothman offers such a believable diva that one is almost tempted to verbally silence her from the audience – but then she shows equally such vulnerability and underlying fragility that the urge is quickly laid to rest.
John Snowdon’s direction has produced a tight, well paced show. Quartet is an ensemble piece with four well-developed three-dimensional characters. A play that demands a convincing individual depth from each while an impeccable sensitivity to the whole.
Snowdon’s cast delivers and they do so with finesse, creating an evening of entertainment that will touch the heart, tickle the funny bone, and very often connect on a personal plane.
Quartet continues until July 19 with Thursday, Friday, Saturday performances at 8pm and Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2:30pm.
For tickets, call 519-855-4586.
