Skilled players produce convincing Concordia stage show
Tony Parratt reviews Tom’s Midnight Garden at town theatre
A BURNING issue of the day is the subject of the latest offering from the New Theatre Players; yet when they chose to stage it, they would have had no idea just how topical it would be.
Because ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’ is all about a boy who has to stay in isolation after an illness; but don’t worry! It is not the dreaded ‘Coronavirus.’
Tom is a 1950s schoolboy recovering from measles, who must be kept away from his younger brother, so he opts to stay with his aunt and uncle.
And from there his adventures begin, as he enters a mysterious world via a clock that strikes up to thirteen and transports him back to 1880.
Helping us understand why, was a very believable Joshua Crook, as the young lad, while clever siting of a bed in the other corner of the stage revealed his younger sibling Peter.
Charlie Hill as Peter, read out Tom’s letters to great effect, whenever the lights shone in his corner.
Joyce Moore as Aunt Gwen and Ian Cunningham as Uncle Alan were all dependability and mostly warmth, although their nephew’s wanderings left them ever more bemused, as he asked them baffling questions.
These involved him travelling back to the past in the extra hour after midnight, to visit a long-lost garden that had once been part of the house he was now staying in.
During these visits he met former occupants, especially Hatty, a young girl who makes a big impression on him.
And Erica Hammond in the part, certainly did that to the audience too, as she brought the high-spirited lass sparkingly to life.
But her situation was not helped by the presence of Aunt Grace Melbourne, a woman who was reluctantly having to accommodate her orphan niece.
And Tricia Bannister earned the ire of everyone watching, in a very convincing portrayal of a woman who really did not want the girl in her home at all.
Into the garden spill various characters, including three cousins played in spirited fashion by Mike Hill as James, George Phayre as Edgar and Connor Marsh as Hubert.
While Phil Brown was all calm as gardener Abel and Linda Smith a caring Susan.
But one woman in Tom’s present-day life just kept walking on and off during the play and her name was Mrs Bartholomew, played silently for the most part by Yvette Emmett.
But here the mystery unfolded. It turned out she was Hatty in old age and somehow, Tom on his travels, had met her younger self.
Sound too strange to be true? Probably, but it was almost convincing in the hands of the skilled players performing it on the Concordia stage.