The Winslow Boy

The Winslow Boy tells the true story of a young cadet being accused of theft and expelled from the navy. His father who believed his son was innocent took all means to pursue for justice and along the way brought collateral damages to members of his family.  The play had received recent revivals on Broadway and the West Ends with some success. Now it is the Genesian Theatre’s turn to tackle this story.

Directed by Nanette Frew, Genesian Theatre tackled this well-known play in a most straight forward way. Story was told page by page on a family home stage and characters whizzed on and off. The pace was fast no non-sense and it kept the momentum going. There were a few places here and there that fell flat but overall it was a very fluid run of the script. The set was a bit wonky at places and the wobbly balcony door was a sore for the eye for me, and so was the at times creasy costumes worn by the actors. Surely at least at the beginning of the play when they are still kind of well off they would have Violet or other servants (they must have otherwise how could they maintain a two storey house with a huge front and backyard?) ironing their clothes before putting them on for the day? But then I could be a bit too picky and looking for unnecessary perfection in a community theatre. The story told about the cost of the law suit that drained the finances of the family but in terms of sets and costumes it was hardly reflected.

The ensemble did a decent job and had some good performances throughout the two acts. My personal favourite was Sonya Kerr who played Catherine. She displayed a huge range of emotional commitment yet did not subject herself to the weak stereotype that only acted by her heart. It was a meaty role and I think Sonya digested the role and transformed herself brilliantly. Catherine was witty and so was Sonya’s interpretation; Catherine was warm hearted and it could be seen via Sonya’s performance and Catherine was determined and so was Sonya’s display. It was refreshing whenever she stepped on to the stage. Equally interesting was Lachlan McNab who played the pretty much ignored son Dickie in the family. He was not the favourite son and the play did not hide that in between the lines.  What I appreciated about Lachlan’s performance was that he didn’t play the typical bitter martyr this character could easily slip into. He maintained a wicked sense of humour on situations that fell unjustly upon him. Those lines could be delivered in contempt and he could act like a dick but he chose not to. This added a lot of authenticity to the character. Lois Marsh and David Stewart-Hunter played the parents of the family. The delivery was respectable but not ground breaking. They are nice characters but simply playing nice and warm and concerned did not really give the characters much space or dimensions. The niceness, warmth, concern and determination displayed were just words displayed and I could not see a huge range of depth from them. You wanted to care about those characters but you just did not know how to do so because you weren’t really let in. That’s how I felt.  Roger Gimblett as Sir Robert Morton had some shining moments especially toward the end of the act 1. The chemistry and tension between Robert and Catherine were interesting to watch. Both seemed to have admiration for each other but fundamental differences in ideologies just kept getting into their way. Their scenes were just really enjoyable. As for the remaining characters, they were not as memorable. The Winslow Boy Ronnie was supposed to be the centre of the play but in the production it feels more on the centre right waiting to kick a goal that never seemed to come his way. Meg Mooney as Violet did not have the range that I was hoping for. I suspect it could be her voice issue that the character never really delivered. If you have a hard time catching the words it will be hard to understand the words in my opinion. Also the character seemed to be a bit colder than what I would expect for a maid who had devoted most of her life to this family.

On the whole this presentation of The Winslow Boy was an enjoyable and entertaining experience. There is quite some production value in it and its “straight down to business” presentation style made it extremely approachable for all.  That is something I always appreciated about Geneisan’s productions. It did not attempt to over-stylised productions and forgot about the theatrical basics – story telling. It is a definitely good way to enjoy a Friday or Saturday evening if you are in town.

The Winslow Boy runs from 17 January to 14 February at Genesian Theatre.