REVIEW
The Return of the Soldier, Titchfield Festival Theatre, St Margaret’s Arts Centre
CAPTAIN Chris Baldry (effectively underplayed by Russell Churcher), home from World War One France suffering shell shock and ‘selective amnesia’, and the three women in his life – his wife, cousin and first love – struggle to help him through the trauma and recover his identity. John van Druten’s dramatisation of Rebecca West’s 1918 novel provides a trio of contrasting female roles.
As his wife Kitty, Holly Robertson rages at finding herself forgotten, but slowly accepts that her husband’s needs must come first. Kay Fraser plays Jenny, who suffers unrequited love for her cousin, understanding enough to see all sides, but with the strength to resist his Reverend brother Phil Holliman’s proposal. Hanna Wood is Margaret, now married to a man of her own humble class (affectingly played by Alan James), cautious but caught up in Baldry’s fantasy of returning to a simpler time.
Christine Lawrence’s direction is well balanced, her and Alan James’ plush set evocative of the period, almost claustrophobic but with a small window offering a hint of the reunited couple’s temporary garden idyll, thanks to Beth Dewey’s subtle lighting design.
Ham Quentin
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