How many plays could survive a
showing with the principal player reading from a
script? Patrick Barr did just this for the first few
days of the Yvonne Arnaud’s flawless revival of The Linden Tree,
having replaced John Clements at short notice.It
is a measure of the enduring power of JB Priestley’s
English masterpiece that, despite such a handicap, it
proved as moving and magic as ever.
The scene is Professor Linden’s 65th birthday and
all the family have come to try to persuade him to
retire from his provincial chair. Although the roles
of his wife and other three children are vital, it is
the youngest daughter who becomes the catalyst.In
a thrilling and throbbing portrayal by Judi Bowker,
she signifies youth and life, as opposed to age. And
after Elgar said “his long farewell” with the Cello
Concerto, she it is who works the miracle by finding
and playing it afresh. Meanwhile, her father, played
by Patrick Barr, is refusing to say his farewells so
quietly, “I don’t want to walk away from real life.”
Some people may criticise the characters as being
too overtly symbolic, but Priestley gives them their
contrasting beliefs to develop his crucial arguments
on the values of life.The capitalist, Harry
Meacher, in double-breasted suit, convinces as the
deluxe spiv son offering his father the easy options
to buy himself a nice high wall against the outside
world. Communist doctor daughter Elizabeth Bell
conveys the conflict of a career woman fighting back
her female emotions while Pamela Salem shows great
style as the converted Catholic daughter married to a
French aristocrat.Constance Cummings acts
her strong scenes with controlled emotional integrity,
as if really aching to get away from “that shabby,
boring, dismal” town. But to what? The two students
develop a double act, the gauche girl by Christine
Kimberley, the runny-nosed boy by David Napier.
Gretchen Franklin adds the comic touch as the blitzed
cook and Philip Anthony completes the powerful cast
under Val May’s care.