What a remarkable performance.
Ayesha Antoine’s playing of Winnie, around whom events revolve, is quite astonishing. Winnie is nine years old and Antoine looks nearer 11 or 12, but no matter. Her reactions to the annoying adults are sublime - not an expression or movement out of place. As the play progresses it becomes clear that she is going to be on stage throughout. Will she tire? Obviously not.
After the show, it emerges that Antoine is in fact 28 years old, which comes as a shock. Antoine is delivering a complete physical and emotional character. Her body language is perfect - from curious expressions to hunching over her writing to legs swinging when she sits. Even when the cast take their bows she is still a child, squirming at the condescending behaviour of adults, annoyed at the teasing from Terence Booth’s character. Nothing about her suggests a glamorous 28-year-old actress.
Alan Ayckbourn’s 73rd play looks at marital discord in the fast-fragmenting Tate household. Winnie sits, ignored by the grown-ups and dutifully writing down everything she sees for a school essay. She speaks French because today is Tuesday and her mum (Petra Letang) who cleans for the Tates, has decreed that she must practise French on Tuesdays.
A stable of experienced Ayckbourn actors, with Paul Kemp giving fine emotional detail, carries on under the impression that Winnie is French. They curse alarmingly but because of the situation the cursing is funny. Then, when Winnie starts reading the essay to her mum, the reaction is comic perfection.
After Scarborough, My Wonderful Day goes straight to New York.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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