Here I Belong, in Benderloch
If ever a village hall was made for a production then Benderloch’s Victory Hall would certainly be a front runner for Matt Hartley’s Here I Belong.
Mull Theatre Company, part of Comar, brought this moving, funny and charming play to the locality and, using both the venue and its audience as part of the set, proceeded on a journey which for many of those present was unnerving in its familiarity.
Directed by Allie Winton Butler, Here I Belong, takes its audience through decades of history seen through the eyes of one village resident.
By focussing on the life of one woman this gentle, affecting production explores the changing nature of English village life over a 60-year period. It starts on the day of the coronation, when the war is still fresh in people’s memories and Elsie is in her late 20s and pregnant, and ends on her 90th birthday.
The play revisits Elsie at three other key points in her life as loved ones die, and governments come and go.
As she gets older the question arises of how long she can stay in the village she has lived in for much of her life. As the younger generation is priced out, there are fewer local jobs, and even the bus service is cut. Who will look after her?
Beautifully played by Mary Gapinski, Elsie manages to age convincingly, without the use of makeup, over half a century over the course of the play, while Louise Haggerty skilfully slips into the skins of four contrasting characters, Dorothy, Marion, Scarlet and Katie, over the duration.
The evening was a warm intimate experience as the wonderfully adaptable production saw the audience seated at tables around the room while the actors moved among them.
Clever set design and use of props (Mick Andrew) and music (Martin Low) enabled the cast to move seamlessly from the 1950s to the 2010s, taking their eager audience with them.
Staying on and sharing Elsie’s 90th birthday cake at the end of the evening just seemed like the right thing to do, it would have been rude not to.