02 Jun 2023
Deborah Heath is at the Inn on the Park for Breakaway Theatre’s double bill by Robert Scott…
I am a great believer in the power of a one act play. It requires great discipline for a writer to pack everything in and often results in a pacey story with an audience who have no time to sneakily look at their watches. It is also a great test for a theatre company who mustn’t short-change the audience on a rewarding experience just because the script itself is short. So, did Breakaway Theatre’s annual summer production at the Inn on the Park courtyard measure up to my expectations?
‘All By Myself’ and ‘All By Themselves’ are in fact two one-act plays by Robert Scott; separate but linked stories about several groups of characters marooned on the same desert island one year apart.
It was a marvellous choice for an outdoor production by director Margie Skinner for two reasons.
The first, obviously being the upbeat summery theme; the weather was on our side and it all felt distinctly tropical.
Secondly, let’s be honest – outdoor shows are a gamble! Sometimes it rains, sometimes you forget to bring a rug, so a thoughtfully shorter production ticks a lot of boxes and keeps the audience on side.
It wasn’t just the glorious weather that helped the staging. The set and props (designed by Laura Levitt), which involved two palm trees and a large central rock with sea underneath instantly transported the audience to the desert island.
A few more trees would have been nice but one has to be realistic about budgetary constraints and I felt that Breakaway used the scenery they had successfully.
The raft had been well-made and I applaud the way the central rock was transformed in the second half.
Performing outdoors is no easy task. While the weather was on our side this time, the cast carried on like troopers despite a dog running onstage and passers-by pausing to observe. They also had to project their voices much further than usual for an inside production and I must give credit to the actors for doing so extremely well in most cases.
I was pleased to see familiar faces Malcolm Coakley and Maude Collions Pallett who forged a good team and hit the ground running as they opened the play. Elaine Hartless too, gave a solid performance throughout.
However, it was lovely to see some newcomers too. Zara Gooder had a great command of the stage, I appreciated Paul Murphy’s Hugh Laurie tribute, Ruth Ling’s clarity of speech and some visual humour from Joanna Page. I look forward to seeing them grow as performers in future productions.
In terms of the script itself, which was upbeat and enjoyable, the first act felt better constructed than the second. However, the marvellous Sam Newgrosh powered through it with welcome vibrancy and humour. There were some local/modern jokes which fell a bit flat (the play was set in 1560) but I realise that they may have worked better on other nights in the run.
A successful adaptation was Margie Skinner’s move to turn one character into twins, the joke being that they weren’t identical at all.!
The Inn On the Park were perfect hosts. The food, drink and service were spot on and this combined with a strong performing team, great characterisation and a fun script made it a good night out. Well done Breakaway!
