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A sweet rose with hidden thorns Rose Cottage The Old Joint Stock Theatre **** ROSE Cottage is one of the euphemisms that hospitals use for the mortuary so as not to upset patients who would rather avoid that particular exit. It is also where three cleaners go for their fag
break. It's quiet, the inhabitants don't complain, the formaldehyde
masks the smell of Bensons and its warmer than outside. Steve Pearce's play follows the trio through a
year of their tea breaks and fag breaks among the dear departed. Their leader, or at least their conscience, is
Bernice, played by Alison Belbin who was last seen at the OJS as Miriam
in the Miriam on 34th Street last Christmas. Bernice is a woman who probably never had much
ambition in life and what she did have is long gone. Whether she is
happy with her lot as a hospital cleaner hardly comes into it. She
accepts it and wants everyone to get on. Then there is Carla, played by Caroline Nash who
was last seen in From Me to 3792. Carla is a brash, vulgar, racist, bigoted Chav.
She lives a dead end life in a loveless marriage, blames the world and
everyone in it for her lot, She sees everyone as getting a better deal
out of life than she does, permanently bums ciggies of Berni and is
ready to lash out at anyone within range. Agnieska is the new cleaner, a Pole with only the
most rudimentary command of English, played by Aleksandra Everitt, who
is from Belarus so no doubt considered by Carla to be coming over here,
living on benefit and taking the jobs of good, honest English actresses. Alexsandra, who now lives in Birmingham and is
studying for a degree in acting, is a ballerina graduate of the
State Ballet Academy of Minsk, which shows in the dance numbers between
scenes. And, as we find out in the final scene, she also has legs
that go on for ever. But when she first arrives with mop, overall and
half a dozen words Carla calls her Pardon because that is her response
to most questions. Agnieska is working in England to pay for her wedding
in Poland to a man who seems happier with the funds sent from England
than he is with any committment to the relationship. Despite the fact she has the right to be here and
is working Carla sees here, as she sees all foreigners, as an illegal
immigrant milking the system which gives nothing to her.
While Berni ties to teach Agnieska English Carla
teachers her swearing, not to be helpful, merely so that she can provide
some fun by saying the wrong thing to the wrong people. As the year goes on we discover Carla wanted to
be a beautician but, as always, she had been let down, this time by the
education system. Agneska had been a midwife in Poland and Berni . . .
Berni, if not content with her life at least accepted it for what it
was. There are clashes and bust ups between Carla and Agneska with Berni acting as peacemaker. There are also adventures, like visits to see the gorgeous, if unconscious, bloke in intensive care, who eventually pops his clogs and so comes to visit them in Rose Cottage and Berni and Agneska are roped into satisfying Carla's curiosity. I am not sure if they are fully reassured by her claim that "its not necrophilia if you don't touch it". whountil the warring pair realise they have
more in common than they realised - relationships and lives going
nowhere – and join unlikely forces in forging a new life. Its all a
happy, feel-good, turned out all all right, ending. Except life isn't really about living happily
ever after and Pearce adds a genuinely sad final scene with Berni alone
and still heading down to Rose Cottage for a fag break It is an
ending which is both unexpected and poignant in what is a bitter sweet ,
closely observed and well-written comedy about relationships, envy and
bigotry. There are strong performances from all three
actresses in a production which keeps up Sharon Foster's fine record of
putting on a quality production at the OJS at Christmas Directed by Jenny Stephens, the play is produced
by Foster and Caroline Nash for their Next Page Productions and it
runs to 18-12-11. Roger Clarke And from the trolley at the back . . . *** A HOSPITAL mortuary may seem a strange
place to receive a lesson about racism, but that's just what happens in
Steve Pearce's entertaining black comedy with a dash of strong language. Three women cleaners regularly slip into the
morgue (Rose Cottage) for a quiet break – two from the Black Country and
one a Polish immigrant – indifferent to the body lying on a trolley
under a white sheet. But when the mops are at rest the tongues take
over, and Carla, “You have to expect a bit of hostility”, makes it quite
clear she is against immigration. Caroline Nash is convincing as the bigot, and
there is a lovely performance from Belarus-born Brummie Aleksandra
Everitt, playing Agnieska who gets the nickname, Pardon, because that's
her answer to most questions. Aleksandra is a former ballerina, and her past
training shines through when the cleaners dance to Stand By Your Man,
which is something kindly Bernice (Alison Belbin) has been doing for 10
years as a widow, secretly chatting to corpses and asking them to pass
on messages to Bill. In the end Carla and Aleksandra – a trained
midwife in Poland but prepared to earn a living here as a humble cleaner
- become friends, and there's a poignant and happy ending to the play,
directed by Jenny Stephens. To 18.12.11 Paul Marston |
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