15:16 Tuesday 29 March 2011
Life of Riley Theatre Royal Windsor
March 28, 2011
Life Of Riley is Alan Ayckbourn's 74th play and premiered on September 21, 2010.
George Riley has been given only a few months to live and his friends start to remember him and his antics with love, nostalgia and sometimes anger in the ways he has affected them so deeply.
However, George wants to live life to the full as is revealed in the second act with the ins and outs of the women in his life.
The play also looks at how people have settled into their relationships with each other, from the secret drinking Kathryn married to the downtrodden tactless doctor Colin; the declining relationship between self-made Jack and the slightly fading model wife Tamsin; and finally Monica, who left George to be with Farmer Simeon, who is burdened with guilt about not being with him in his final days.
All this with a backdrop of Pink Floyd music coming from George’s house.
The set is cleverly done with the stage split into three garden areas and a farmyard, each one allocated to one of the couples, and George himself.
An extremely talented cast pulled off this darkly funny play with Kim Wall (Colin) as the perfect bumbling and bewildered doctor who does not know how to assert himself with those around him, including his wife (Kathryn) played by Liza Goddard.
The outstanding performance was Laura Doddington (Tamsin), with a typical Essex character being feisty but with a vulnerability trying to get out. You do expect a farcical ending, but this is not what you get with Life of Riley.
Overall, a great play with some moving elements and an enjoyable evening out.
Life of Riley runs at the Theatre Royal Windsor until Saturday April 2, 2011.
Life Of Riley is Alan Ayckbourn's 74th play and premiered on September 21, 2010.
George Riley has been given only a few months to live and his friends start to remember him and his antics with love, nostalgia and sometimes anger in the ways he has affected them so deeply.
However, George wants to live life to the full as is revealed in the second act with the ins and outs of the women in his life.
The play also looks at how people have settled into their relationships with each other, from the secret drinking Kathryn married to the downtrodden tactless doctor Colin; the declining relationship between self-made Jack and the slightly fading model wife Tamsin; and finally Monica, who left George to be with Farmer Simeon, who is burdened with guilt about not being with him in his final days.
All this with a backdrop of Pink Floyd music coming from George’s house.
The set is cleverly done with the stage split into three garden areas and a farmyard, each one allocated to one of the couples, and George himself.
An extremely talented cast pulled off this darkly funny play with Kim Wall (Colin) as the perfect bumbling and bewildered doctor who does not know how to assert himself with those around him, including his wife (Kathryn) played by Liza Goddard.
The outstanding performance was Laura Doddington (Tamsin), with a typical Essex character being feisty but with a vulnerability trying to get out. You do expect a farcical ending, but this is not what you get with Life of Riley.
Overall, a great play with some moving elements and an enjoyable evening out.
Life of Riley runs at the Theatre Royal Windsor until Saturday April 2, 2011.
