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THE LINDEN TREE by J.B. Priestley
Venue: Richmond 1981
Directed by Val May



Cast
Professor Robert Linden Patrick Barr
Isabel Linden Constance Cummings
Alfred Philip Anthony
Dr Jean Linden Elizabeth Bell
Dinah Judi Bowker
Mrs Cotton Gretchen Franklin
Edith Christine Kimberly
Rex Harry Meacher
Bernard David Napier
Marion Pamela Salem

Review prior to tour

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.