The Admirable Crichton

‘The Admirable Crichton’ a critically acclaimed social commentary, was written in 1902 by J.M. Barrie, two years before he wrote the children’s play ‘Peter Pan’. This play is presented by the Garrick Theatre Club, at the Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford. Showing in the evenings at 8.00 pm, until Saturday 19^th December.

        It is about 1900 in the palatial London home of British radical peer, Lord Loam (Geoffrey Fairclough), where his daughters Lady Mary, Agatha (Rebecca Alosi) and Catherine (Kirilee Lennerts) are awaiting with dread, yet another monthly ‘congregation’. His Lordship considers his servants are perhaps his equal, and that the British class divisions are artificial. He holds regular gatherings where his family aristocrats mingle with all of the servants. However Crichton (Ben Brown), the butler, also dislikes such get-togethers considering them hypocritical, and perpetuating what he judges to be the falsehood that all human beings are, or ever can be, equal. Crichton still believes in the ‘upstairs-downstairs’ mentality performing his duties with distinction, in a class system he considers as ‘the natural outcome of a civilised society’. The younger girls visibly wince as they meet some of the grubby land workers.

        Lord Loam announces that he is to take his family, along with his ditty-quoting, boring nephew Ernest (Benjamin Myles) and close friend, the timid Reverend Treherne (Garry Davies) on a cruise in the Pacific, on his yacht. However, hyperventilation takes place when the daughters find that they are only being allowed one maid between them. Nor can Lady Mary (Olivia Darby) take her fiancé Lord Brocklehurst (Matthew Lister) – a young man ruled by his battleaxe mother (Lynn Koehler).

         After a massive storm, the Loam family and servants find themselves shipwrecked on a desert island. None of the boat’s crew survives, so the dignified and respectful Crichton, along with Tweeny (Tessa Hutchinson) the illiterate in-between-maid - who is a match for the men - put their practical skills to use. Now social hierarchy is put to the test.

        Will the social status quo remain? Who are the natural leaders of this society? Will the islanders manage to escape? Into the bargain, will the true story of the island’s happenings be told to those back home?

This delightful story is filled with magic. As a child, I loved imagining the dreamy desert island, interesting characters, the stiff-upper-lip society and the warm amusing situations. Although filmed several times for TV and the cinema, it was Kenneth More’s portrayal of Crichton in the 1957 film that truly captured the coming together of the classes. (Kryten, the robot butler in the TV series ‘Red Dwarf’, was named after Crichton). I suspect that ‘The Remains of the Day’ theme also drew strongly from this book.

When you have quite defined ideas as to the characters and the whole feel of the play, I wondered if director Jeff Watkins and his cast could possibly capture the feeling of this delicate story. A tale filled with subtle emotions, yet which still manages to portray the period’s illogical features of social class distinction. The result was outstanding.

In this cast of ‘thousands’ even the simplest walk-on, non-speaking parts were fully understood by the cast members. You could feel the ‘class’ difference in every word and facial expression. Fabulous teamwork from a cast that included several newcomers. For once I can genuinely extol the WHOLE cast, but if I may give an extra word of praise to Ben Brown, Kirilee Lennerts, Tessa Hutchinson and Olivia Darby.

The sets, and there were three striking locations (Bruce Denny, Linda Redman) – a sumptuous sitting room and two desert island scenes, were fully fitted out. The first scene change was a little longer than one would normally have expected, but with an authentic sounding storm (Rebecca Alosi) and boat crashes to fill the gap, the curtains opened to an impressive beach panorama.

The lighting was good with an effective sunset. The wonderful costumes ranged from the elite fashions to Polly’s ‘look of nature’ (Lorna McKay, Kirilee Lennerts), complimented by well-considered hair design (Lynda Stubbs).

I suspect that the tickets may all be gone, but if you can see this wonderful production please do so. If you miss it, then look in the Finley winners list at the end of the year. Extremely impressed.