BLACK CHIFFON
★★★★ Park Theatre, until October 12 Tickets 020 7870 6876
WRITTEN in 1949 for Dame Flora Robson, Lesley Storm’s play has lain dormant for decades. Although her work is rarely performed now, this revival by Frinton Summer Theatre suggests she has been neglected unfairly.
There are echoes of Terence Rattigan and Ibsen in the story of Alicia
(Abigail Cruttenden), a respectable married woman who brings shame and scandal on her family when, in a moment of inexplicable folly, she steals a nightdress from a store.
While her two children – pregnant Thea (Eva Feiler) and Roy (Jack Staddon) – struggle to come to terms with her uncharacteristic act, her uncomprehending husband Robert (Ian Kelly) is apoplectic at the prospect of losing his social position.
Following lengthy discussions with the family doctor (Nicholas Murchie), it is suggested that the theft was motivated by the prospect of her son’s impending marriage to Louise (Jemima Watling), triggering a fit of jealousy way beyond the maternal.
There is a hint of Greek tragedy in the psychological complexities of the narrative though Storm handles the explosive material with the utmost delicacy, offering shades of explanation that are steeped in humanity. Clive Brill directs the fine cast with skill and Beth Colley’s detailed set invokes the post-war period perfectly, as if the approaching 1950s were trying to shrug off the last vestiges of
Edwardianism. Cruttenden is little short of magnificent as Alicia, a woman in denial of the fact that she has unwittingly diverted love for her buttoned-up husband towards her son.
Horrified at the insinuation behind her motives and the impact it would have on her family, she makes a decision that has life-changing consequences for everyone involved.
Beautifully acted by all, it is easy to understand why the play was a huge hit in 1949 in the West End, then on Broadway.
While it may not be a lost masterpiece, it is certainly a worthwhile discovery.