Alun Armstrong shines in, and lifts, a slight play

To Have and to Hold is the new play from Richard Bean, writer of the massive global hit, One Man, Two Guvnors, and takes place in the Yorkshire village of Wetwang – and yes, it’s a real place.

 

There, we meet Jack and Florence Kirk, a couple in their 90s, both struggling with ill health and the realities of old age. They are joined by Rob and Tina, their adult children, who live far away from Yorkshire. Rob, a novelist and screenwriter, flits between London and LA, while Tina, who runs a group of private GP services, is based in the south west of England and is contemplating a move to Australia.

 

The siblings have been invited home by Jack, who knows that they need to discuss, as a family, the failing health of both himself and his wife. He has already had prepared power of attorney documents.

 

Which is pretty much the plot – although that needed discussion never really happens. We do get a slight (very slight) subplot about a crime, while ex-copper Jack, when alone, spends time preserving stories of his favourite cases on an old tape recorder.

 

There are light references to the generational divide in such things as the internet – and Jack gets to have a very a good riff on smartphones and how people have stopped seeing the world around them because they’re always looking down at their small screens – plus nods to the difficulties the elderly face when, for instance, the local Post Office closes.

 

But the main idea of the piece seems to be how university education that was opened up after WWII for the likes of Rob and Tina saw them move away – not just physically, but in terms of class too. Flo and Jack are very much still working class, but their son and daughter have become very much middle class. The contrasts in their speech/accents reflect this.

 

The elderly couple rely for help – and company – on local character Rhubarb Eddie and vet’s nurse Pamela, Flo’s niece.

 

It’s funny – very much a two-hour sitcom – you have a sense what you’re getting with the first entrance: on a Stannah stairlift. There are running gags and word play, such as Flo getting ‘prostate’ confused with ‘prostrate’ – and it’s arguably at its best when she and Jack are bickering.

 

But in general, it all feels rather directionless. The characters of Tina and Rob are sketches and the subplot – like so much else here – is never really resolved.

 

What saves To Have and to Hold are, first, the performances (more of that in a moment) and James Cotterill’s absolutely magnificent set – a beautifully naturalistic and detailed living room (with front door, back door, stairs, and a serving hatch from the kitchen. All very retro and all with a sense of a home that has been loved and nurtured.

 

It’s quite a static play, and directing duo Richard Wilson and Terry Johnson do a good job keeping as much movement in it as possible.

 

But yes – the performances. Adrian Hood as Rhubarb Eddie is a vast man mountain (he was Norman, the bread delivery man in dinnerladies, but I had no idea just how big he is!) and is very funny and affectionate in the role. Hermione Gulliford (Tina), Christopher Fulford (Rob) and Rachel Dale (Pamela) do sterling service with limited help from the script. 

 

Marion Bailey was apparently a late casting replacement as Flo and that simply makes one admire what she does here even more. It’s a very good performance.

 

But the reason I booked (perhaps ironic given the subjects of age, infirmity etc) for my first live performance since The Other Half died in September, was Alun Armstrong, who plays Jack here.

 

He’s not – that I’m aware of – done much stage work in recent years. Having become aware of him first via the televised version of the RSC’s epic production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (he played Wackford Squeers), I’d seen him on stage in the 56-performance West End musical The Baker’s Wife(revival next year!), as the Olivier-winning, eponymous Sweeney Todd in the magnificent 1993 National Theatre chamber opera version of the Sondheim classic, and then as Willy Loman in the National’s 1996/’97Death of a Salesman.

 

He should have won again for that too, in my opinion. I saw it – as a reviewer – in the Lyttleton stalls and wept absolute buckets.

 

In 1998, he was appearing as the editor in The Front Page at the Donmar Warehouse. As part of my long-term project to get The OH to see actors I very seriously rated, we got tickets. Hildy was played by Griff Rhys Jones, who was very good. Armstrong’s character, editor Walter Burns, makes his first appearance about half way through the three-act piece.

 

Around five minutes after Armstrong had arrived on the Donmar stage, Tony leaned into to me (he was sitting on my right) and said: “I get it”.

 

This is the first time I’ve seen him live since, so thanks so much to a friend for alerting me to this production. 

 

It is an absolute joy to see him back on stage. His comic timing is simply superb. But he also gives the piece its most genuinely emotional moments – Armstrong, who never had a formal theatre training, has real heft as an actor. He can go from making you laugh to making you blub in moments. One of the finest actors of his generation. 

 

So, in summary: the play is slight (very), but it’s important to note that that’s not necessarily bad. Set – brilliant. Cast – all of them do wonders with slight material. Alun Armstrong? Absolutely every bit as fabulous as the last time I saw him on stage.