A LIFELESS NOD TO 1970S NOSTALGIA
The Good Life (Theatre Royal, Bath, and touring)
Verdict: Insufficiently self-sufficient ★✩✩✩✩
DRAWN by the promise of intravenous 70s nostalgia, Covid vaccination groups one through three congregated in Bath’s Theatre Royal for a sitcom seance. ‘The classic comedy, live on stage!’ posters promised — albeit with a tenth of the jokes and none of the original cast. Still — good title.
Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry are reincarnated, starting at the beginning with Tom (Rufus Hound) jacking in his job to live a life of self-sufficiency. We then plod into the night with a dinner party, a long scene about a dying piglet and discussion of Margo’s amateur stint in The Sound Of Music.
I was practically raised on Good Life TV re-runs with nanny UK Gold, but my excitement quickly bled out. If Surbiton’s actual am-dram society had been responsible for this evening, I’d have wished them well. But on a professional stage, with fat ticket prices, this is desperate stuff. Jeremy Sams’s adaptation is intensely dull. As a tribute to the sitcom, it lacks the satisfying situations and wisecrack comedy. As a piece of theatre, it’s as if a writer had Alan Ayckbourn’s style described to them. So there’s gentle amusement, without any of Ayckbourn’s dark wit and rich characterisation.
The cast are hammy and largely just attempt impressions, with Dominic Rowan’s Jerry the best. But even then, Jerry’s depth and frustration are missing.
Similarly, Hound’s Tom lacks the original’s dark impish spirit. Sally Tatum’s Barbara has had all character (including the allotment raunchiness) surgically removed.
Preeya Kalidas’s Margo is just a one-note snob. There’s no inner tension in the characters and no dramatic tension in the threadbare plot. All this makes me wonder: what’s the point? Who asked for this, aside from producers hoping to cash in on fond memories? It is surely breaking some theatre critic code of honour to advise you to stay home and watch TV re-runs. But do.