‘Sheila’s Island’ is the female version by Tim Firth of his original all-male dark comedy ‘Neville’s Island.’ This time the island is somewhere in the Lake District, where four work colleagues are on one of those awful bonding exercises companies indulge in to use up business grants.
Team games turn to reality though when Sheila, the group leader, capsizes the weekend working party rowing boat and they become marooned on a tiny, misty island.
Sheila is played by Zena Forrest and is joined by three other Crescent stalwart actors Michaela Redican, Deronie Pettifer and Jenny Thurston as Denise, Julie and Fay respectively. I have seen all these actors give excellent performances in past productions and so I have no doubt their pace and pitch will pick up as they settle into the run. On first listening though, with exception of Forrest who at least had some tonal depth to her voice, act one dialogue lacked audibility and definition.
There was also a lack of movement to hold our attention. Unless you were seated directly in the middle section of the auditorium it was difficult to feel any inclusion as everything was delivered centre stage and squarely head on.
Picture by Graeme Braidwood Photography. s
Keith Harris’ set with a touch of Phil Parson construction magic offered up a perfect canvas for action with its ancient tall trees, dense foliage and sinister lookout point. Such a shame that Harris’ vision is mostly wasted. As the play is set on an island, the flexible Studio auditorium cries out to seat audience on at least two and possibly three sides and let the actors perform in the half round. The lookout point would be within the audience and could be used a little like an all-seeing eye, way the ‘Juliet’ balcony in the old Crescent Theatre was.
Chris Briggs’ lighting was as superb as the Harris set, perfect in fact for a Halloween party. Paul Forrest has designed some effective sound offerings and the wardrobe and properties teams once again tick the right boxes. One small niggle – the smoke/mist machine needs a constant flow and to be positioned higher so that it falls, instead of looking like a vaping stagehand.
There must have been an interval team talk as act two was better than act one and we got to see some character development – Denise shows her true bitchy colours, Julie proves to be borderline bonkers, born-again Christian Fay actually crosses that borderline and Sheila does her best to herd cats.
Picture by Graeme Braidwood Photography. s
Tim Firth’s play is flaw ridden and as such needs imaginative direction for it to rise above caricature. On first showing there is little evidence that Frankie Haydon-White and Kevin Middleton have done enough to achieve this, but as they say in theatre right up to last night call, it’s ‘Early Days’.
Starting a new run at the Crescent Theatre with a Saturday matinee is for me a splendid idea – the full house was a sure sign the audience agreed.
Sadly, for the cast of ‘Sheila’s Island’ it proved to be more of a preview than a premier.
Sheila’s Island runs at the Crescent until November 2. Click here for times, tickets and more information.
