Travels with my Aunt
Review
Travels With My Aunt is a popular choice this year… Since Humdrum announced this production at The Spring a musical adaptation has been scheduled as part of the new Chichester Festival Theatre season and a touring production will be visiting Winchester.
So what makes Graham Greene’s novel so ripe for the stage? Well it’s a story that for all its whimsy we can all relate to on some level, finding ourselves stuck in our existence and longing for adventure. I think all of us can look back to events and moments that have changed the course of our life.
Giles Harvegal’s adaptation, in the capable hands of director Caz Gilmore, takes a novel approach (all 5 actors are playing Henry Pulling as he plays the other characters) and makes it really work. The layout of the stage - mannequins and busts littered about liberally wearing hats, scarves, stick on facial hair and other ephemera used to create the idea of different characters - really helps keep the action moving without unnecessary levels of set design. There’s great use of projected captions too.
Jeanette Broad makes for a marvellously dotty Aunt Augusta, seemingly whimsical but with a will of iron and a lax interpretation of the law, though all the Henry’s get a chance to shine. Mike Palmer’s spaced out backpacker is great and it adds to the farce when he later pops up playing her father too! Ben Counter’s booming African consort Wordsworth is a particular delight with Peter Colley’s hotel receptionist the most wonderfully odd creation. The scene-stealer here though is John Moore who shows a picture is worth a thousand words in a pair of hilarious moments involving a photo frame and a box of acceessories.
This is a charming, bonkers, whimsical and ultimately rather touching production so head along and surrender to the eccentricity!
Matt Merritt - Sitting in the Cheap Seats (inthecheapseats.co.uk)
Four middle-aged men, the epitome of boring, re-live the travels of dull, retired bank manager Henry Pulling (Peter Colley, Ben Counter, John Moore, Mike Palmer) and his 75 year-old aunt Augusta (Jeanette Broad), an irrepressible and formidable woman, with a voracious sexual appetite and a disregard for convention, played with aplomb by Broad.
This all-male team is led by Colley, who takes the lion's share of the dialogue. Palmer has fun playing a series of simpering teenagers and women and John plays an Irish wolfhound with gusto and gives life to the numerous props, with great comedy effect.
The show requires a great deal of thought, in order to convey travel through time and place. Even more complex is how to have four individuals, melded into one person, sharing dialogue and expression. Careful placing and seamless flow made this theatre something very special and this must be, in part, credited to the visionary director (Caz Gilmore) but also to the skill of the four Henrys and their Aunt's ability to interact with them as a whole.
Rebecca Case - Southern Daily Echo
Portsmouth based HumDrum theatre group formed over 20 years ago with the aim to "promote innovative, experimental and under performed works, or more familiar pieces in a new or unusual manner". Their latest production certainly fits this criteria as they are performing Giles Havergal’s 1989 surprisingly styled adaptation of Graham Greene's comic novel "Travels with my Aunt".
One of our greatest and prolific novelists, Greene completed over 25 novels which included "Our Man in Havana" and "Brighton Rock" and he admitted his bipolar condition profoundly affected his writings.
The play begins with the funeral of Henry Pulling's mother. He is a timid retired bank manager with little life experience, his passions running to little more than his interest in tending his dahlias! His mundane life is all about to change dramatically when his wild and wayward 75 year old Bohemian Aunt Augusta is determined to swap his safe suburban existence for freedom with a journey across Europe to South America. Along the way her lack of morality, disregard for money and a lust for adventure sees the pair shielding criminals, smoking pot and currency-smuggling as their exotic hedonistic roller-coaster releases Henry from his former confined existence, even allowing for a little romance.
Director Caz Gilmore has restricted the set to a collection of vintage luggage, an assorted collection of heads and two male mannequins, thus allowing for quick on stage costume changes and swapping of headgear. Innovative props, costumes and lighting all assist this small cast endeavouring to cover over 30 minor characters between them.
Havergal's unconventional adaptation sees all four male cast members playing the role of Henry but this concept is in danger of flat-lining when pace and momentum flag. A similar format was used successfully under Richard Eyre's direction in "The Last Cigarette" (Minerva 2009) with the cast of three all playing Simon Gray concurrently.
Peter Colley, Ben Counter and John Moore all delivered some great comic performances in the absurdity of some of their multi characters with Jeanette Broad playing the free-spirited Aunt Augusta. However the stand out performance of the night has to go to Mike Palmer for his hilarious portrayal of the pot smoking Tooley!
This was an amusing light-hearted comedy and is followed later in the year by "A Man of No Importance" and "The Normal Heart".
Jill Lawrie - remotegoat
