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Richard Stacey as Murray with young wife, Baba, played by Evelyn Hoskins Hero’s Welcome
Malvern Theatres
**** THE model train
set that preoccupies Derek in
Hero’s Welcome,
Ayckbourn’s latest and 79th play, is a frequent source of
amusement in this rather serious play. Kara’s strippergram and Baba’s vocabulary
likewise give us a few laughs, but ultimately this is rather a sad
story. Murray returns to his home town after serving in
the army for 17 years. When he joined up, he left a trail of misery
behind him after abandoning Alice pregnant at the altar, having
exploited various women in competition with Brad. However he returns
with a medal for bravery in action and a foreign wife on his arm. For a variety of reasons various individuals want
him to leave again as soon as possible, as the play progresses layers
are peeled away to reveal some of the ugliness and deceit that is
beneath the surface of their lives. But his young wife, with the long name shortened
to Baba, is the breath of fresh air. Kara finds a new friend in Baba,
whose youthful innocence and love for Murray provide a spark of hope in
a tired and cynical community. Her resistance to
Brad’s sexually predatory overtures, her faithful love for Murray,
played by Richard Stacey, and their hopes to renew the
Birds of Prey Hotel
in the town centre, where Murray spent much of his youth, give a sense
of hope that the future can be bright. The Stephen Joseph Theatre production, directed
by Ayckbourn himself, provides an excellent and fascinating piece of
entertainment. The set is divided into the three areas representing the
three forms of accommodation occupied by the three couples. Murray and Baba’s flat, Derek and Alice’s modern
house and Brad and Kara’s stately period home ensure that the moves from
one location to another are easy and seamless with the effective use of
lighting. The talented cast provide a strong contrast in
various characters. There are no weak links. Derek, the eccentric and
slightly older husband to Alice, has an obsession with model trains and
is colourfully portrayed by Russell Dixon and he is provides much of the
humour in the play. Brad is strongly portrayed by Stephen Billington,
cynical, superior, cruel to his wife Kara and desperately needing to
prove himself in competition with Murray. Emma Manton’s portrayal of
Kara presents us with a deeply repressed wife who hides the depths of
her hurt under a forced smile that seems to be almost permanently
planted on her face. Evelyn Hoskins as Baba catches the attention most
particularly. Her struggle with the language in which she becomes
increasingly fluent is amusing, her countercultural energy and
ultimately her love and devotion to Murray provide a redemptive
influence in a society that seems to have been poisoned by history and
past selfishness. Many Ayckbourn plays focus on a small circle of
characters whose eccentricities and relationships provide amusing,
intriguing and sometimes moving entertainment with an absence of moral
observation. Hero’s Welcome
is unusual in that it provides a few comic moments, but in general it is
a more serious and unsettling story and it provides us with something of
a moral reflection as well. The morally dissolute history of male
competitiveness and exploitation of women, of self-interested permissive
conduct, leaves a sad and painful legacy for most of the characters who
are mostly disillusioned and alienated. The most obvious exception is the newcomer Baba,
who comes with a certain innocence and naivety, a certain moral
expectation that is refreshing. There is also a sense in the end that
love transcends the negativity, not simply the romance of young love but
the committed love of a couple who will strengthen each other and face
life’s challenges together in a committed and increasingly honest way.
To 02-03-16. Tim Crow 01-03-16
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