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The Cast of June Evening |
Taken from the Bolton News, Saturday 12th June 2010
THE passing of time really proves the worth and relevance of a piece of writing and Bill Naughton's comparatively little-known June Evening passes with flying colours.
Staged as part of the theatre’s Bill Naughton Centenary Season, and running alongside his All In Good Time, this really is an enjoyable piece ofwork.
It is easy to understand why this play has been described as “the forerunner to Coronation Street”, created, as it was, as a radio play starring Violet Carson, Harry Markham and Jack Howarth, and set in Bolton's Holdsworth Street, where it puts the microscope on post-war relationships and family life.
Director Andrew Close cleverly leaves the space afforded by the Forge Theatre as spartan as possible, leaving the characters to move freely around their houses.
The play centres largely around the Kippax,Harwood and Sedwin families and, with a little imagination, their predicaments could be those of any family in today's economically difficult times.
Albert and Beatty Kippax, brilliantly played by Kev Walsh and Alison Whittaker, are having difficulties living in cramped conditions with a baby and Albert's mother Sarah, the fantastic Doreen Barker, who really could be an old character from The Street.
Pregnant Polly Harwood (Ruth Morley) is struggling to be civil to her mother and convincingly dopey husband Jack (Chris Simpson), while Frances Clemmitt and Martin Miller win the day as Harry Sedwin proves he can still woo wife Liz in an emotional scene.
The dialogue is moving and witty, and the acting always top-notch. Bill Naughton would have loved it.
by Andrew Mosely of The Bolton News
