By Gary Murray
The London Classic Theatre touring company bring their production of this Alan Ayckbourn play to the Devonshire Park Theatre this week.
Just Between Ourselves was written one bleak Scarborough winter during the 1970s. Like many of Ayckbourn’s plays, there is a great deal going on beneath the surface …
Dennis spends much of his time in his garage tinkering but not really ever fixing things. And not noticing that wife Vera is having a breakdown.
They are trying to sell Vera’s garage-bound car (Dennis can’t mend the doors to make them open) to another couple, Neil and Pam (Joseph Clowser and Helen Phillips).
They strike up a friendship and the story is told in four scenes, each centred on one of the character’s birthdays.
Looming over everything is Dennis’s mother (Judy Buxton), a constant reminder to Dennis of his father, who could do amazing things with wood in stark contrast to his son’s dismal efforts.
Walking a fine line
Tom Richardson brings just the right amount of manic energy to the role of Dennis. He is not a bad man but shuts himself in his garage and fails to see what’s happening around him.
In fact, the whole cast walk the fine line between the inner turmoil of the characters and the surface ‘normality’ really well.
Most of the play is set in Dennis’s garage. It’s his refuge: he’s literally created barriers against the outside world.
This can present a problem though because the garage is set too far back on the stage. Dennis’s high workbench dominates the front of it meaning that the audience is also cut off from much of the action.
I noticed that more than one audience member was complaining about struggling to hear lines. Not the fault of the actors I would say, but they are being hindered by the set.
Just Between Ourselves is regarded as one of Ayckbourn’s starkest plays. But that makes it one of the most rewarding.
Ultimately, the most poignant scene is at the end where we discover what has happened to Vera, played beautifully by Holly Smith.
Despite its subtext, the production crackles with comedy and there is a grim dark humour as each of these people struggle with their own inner turmoil.
Well worth seeing.
:: The play runs until Saturday, 15 March, and tickets are available here. The reviewer’s ticket was provided by Eastbourne Theatres.
:: Main image: Eastbourne Theatres
