Well, there was a weekend, and it was nice and warm with sleeping and eating and stuff. And there was some theatre because there usually is. The Skin Game at the Orange Tree, since you ask, requiring a trek out to Richmond. And yes the ten-minutes-on-the-train journey to Richmond counts as a trek, as does anything requiring movement outside my zone two comfort bubble.
The Skin Game is the latest production in the theatre’s season of infrequently revived Victorian and Edwardian plays. Written in 1920, by John Galsworthy, it dealt with a messy family clash between the Old Money aristocratic Hillcrists and the self-made New Money Hornblowers. There was a blackmail and scandal and a woman with a ‘past.’ (I wish I had a ‘past’). It was dramatic, well-acted and engaging and, while it descends into melodrama in the second half, it is well worth seeing.
However, as with previous trips to the Orange Tree, I was very aware of being one of the youngest people in the venue, not by a few years, but by a few decades. Which seems a shame, as the work they stage is consistently ambitious and thought-provoking, work that deserves to be seen by a wider audience then they currently seem to attract.
The theatre’s in-the-round lay-out does mean you can play ‘spot-the-sleeper’ with ease though. Friday’s count: two definites, plus one chap who may have been just ‘resting his eyes.’ A lot.
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