Theatre v Eastenders

HERES ANOTHER REVIEW. OF THEATRE PRODUCTION 'ENJOY' BY ALAN BENNETT. enjoy.


A Wednesday afternoon visit to the theatre is often synonymous with the image of pensioners shuffling to their seats and the sound of middle-aged women discussing their wallpaper patterns. But as well as these usual matinee treats, Alan Bennett’s Enjoy at the Gielgud theatre also delivers gender-swapping, prostitution, implied incest and the erection of a man who is supposed to be dead.

The resurrection of this play comes 29 years after its original production, a debut that was met with such endless negativity that even Bennett himself nicknamed it ‘Endure’ rather than ‘Enjoy’. It is of no surprise that the audience of the 1980’s production responded with a strong dose of discomfort, as a majority of that audience would now be the age of my grandmother, and I have a feeling she would not have taken too kindly to such a concoction of sexual promiscuity, shameless humour and references to the male genitalia. In addition to the confrontation of such taboos, Bennett places an intricate focus on the troubled social context of the 1970‘s and 80‘s, the rise of industrialism, the demise of traditional community spirit and most importantly, the lack of concern regarding the aged and the vulnerable. Such references could be said to have been too accurate and too cynical for an audience that would prefer to ignore such truths, hide away in their shoulder pads and dance to Duran Duran.

The revival of the play however was met with a much different reaction. With the aid of director Christopher Luscombe, the play received a £1 million box office advance and left the audience applauding as though there were no tomorrow. Set in an old and traditional neighbourhood in Leeds, Bennett projects his own working class background through the characters of Connie and Wilfred Craven, a couple for whom life has become a habit. Their life together is the epitome of gloom; they complain of no company, no love and no purpose to live. Waiting to be relocated from their claustrophobic back-to-back home to modern council provided flats, the couple fantasise about the improvements that this new, state-of-the-art home will bring to their lives.

The set is an aesthetic reflection of the characters own drab existence; the wallpaper is retro, the furniture cheap, the entire room laden with uninteresting details.. The set is islanded in the centre of the stage, symbolic of both the compression of back-to-back housing and also the couples inability to escape each other. On either side of the set is complete darkness, from which other characters emerge, free to come and go with frequency, yet Mr and Mrs Craven rarely leave the staged home. They appear trapped, as though they are the subjects of an old photograph, struggling to escape from beyond the yellowing edges to the world around them.

Before the plot escalates into a dramatic frenzy, the audience is provided with an insight to the daily lives of the old married couple. Incurably bad-tempered Wilfred resides in his chair, occasionally halting his grumbles to wax lyrical about their daughter, Linda. Connie meanwhile wonders aimlessly about the house, making tea, eliminating dust and woefully remembering their long-lost son, of whom she clearly adores but of whom Wilfred despises. The conversations between the couple are a source of incredible humour and their bickering is endlessly entertaining. Much to the annoyance of Mr Craven, his wifes memory is reminiscent of a sieve. Wilfred becomes more forceful and aggressive the more his wife forgets, yet unaffected Connie repeatedly replies “My memories bad you see. My mother lost her memory… I think”. In a particularly amusing scene Connie asks Wilfred how he takes his tea, to which he incredulously replies, “We’ve been married 35 years!”

With the arrival of a female council worker, the play takes a dramatic turn towards the obscene. It soon becomes apparent that the council woman, there to observe the Craven’s day-to-day life but forbidden to interact with the couple, is in fact the Craven’s estranged gender-swapping son in drag. Then there is the arrival of Linda, the doted on daughter who, far from being the high flying personal secretary the couple described her as, is quite clearly a prostitute. An incident with a neighbourhood problem child leaves Wilfred supposedly dead in his chair, creating the foundation for the scene that Bennett himself claims is the funniest scene he has ever written. The aid from a neighbour leads to the removal of ‘deceased’ Wilfred’s trousers, in a bid to tidy him up before calling the ambulance. The removal however leads to the discovery that not every area of Wilfred is dead, and one organ in particular is still very much alive.

Faces are flushed and collars are loosened as endless sexual references, dark humour and social satire follow suit, such being the characteristics that make the play the success it is today, and that made it such a failure 29 years ago. Enjoy is considered as the black sheep of Bennett’s work, as while the controversy and social and political references are greeted like old friends, the slapstick element and theatrical plot are considered unusual for Bennett’s typical style. However we live in a multi-racial society, and this black sheep in particular is rather brilliant.

Enjoy is a play that confronts nearly every issue in society, and although the play was set so long ago, these issues will continue to be valid today, yesterday and tomorrow. In the midst of fanciful plot lines and extravagant characters is a darker heart, the lives of Mr and Mrs Craven, aging rapidly and frightened of what their place will be in the ever-transforming society. The funnier it gets, the more solemn we feel, and most of the audience do not know whether to laugh or cry. And so they chose both, which is perhaps why the theatre was filled with such a strange wheezing sound. Whether it produced chuckles, tears, gasps or smiles, this play was just as enjoyable as it said on the tin.