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In Celebration

Published Tuesday 17 July 2007 at 17:25 by Jeremy Austin

Probably the most telling compliment that can be made about this revival of David Storey’s witty, engaging social drama is that Hollywood star Orlando Bloom, dressed down in a dowdy brown shirt, tie and cardigan, merges into the background. Lez Brotherston’s wonderful set - essentially a terrace house with walls pulled down - invites the audience into the Shaw family’s house and has them settle down on the well-worn furniture to watch what happens when a family, many families, gets together for a social function like a 40th wedding anniversary. That Bloom is just another part of that family is testament to how complete is this theatrical experience and to Anna Mackmin’s energetic yet sensitive direction Casting more than plays its part. Tim Healy is admittedly playing to type as the hard-bitten miner too proud to take early retirement despite one year left down the pit, but there is no doubting his pride at his three educated sons and how they have escaped his life. The ensemble at the core of this play - the three brothers - is both exquisitely observed and performed. There is much that is autobiographical in Storey’s sometimes overtly polemic play, which uses a family at war to depict the birthpangs of new, socially mobile society. Still his observance of the dynamics of a family, particularly a family of three brothers, entering middle age with unresolved issues cannot and has never been bettered.

While Paul Hilton as the deeply damaged Andrew wears his anger and bitterness on his sleeve, as youngest brother Stephen, Bloom’s is an internalised performance and all the more impressive for that.

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