More Plays and Shows
Back ◄   ► Next 

AWAKE AND SING by Clifford Odets
Venue: Watford Palace 1989
Director: Lou Stein


Cast

Ralph Michael Grandage
Myron Martin Friend
Hennie Elaine R Smith
Jacob Cyril Shaps
Bessie Doreen Mantle
Schlosser Richard Henry
Moe Michael J Jackson
Uncle Morty Matt Zimmerman
Sam Mark Coleman


Review


Bessie Berger in Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing does for the mother-image approximately what Stalin might do for the image of democracy. The character is so brilliantly played by Doreen Mantle you almost lose sight of what should be partly an excuse for a mother forcing her pregnant daughter, Hennie, into a loveless marriage to a wimp, Sam, for the sake of financial security and breaks up her son Ralpho’s romance with an orphaned, impoverished girl.
 
This is New York's Bronx during the Great Depression and the Berger family is battling to hang on to its dignity and genteel middle class lifestyle despite poverty. The Jewish mother’s natural position as matriarch of the group, including her father Jacob and war veteran lodger Moe, reaches fever pitch in a mixture of battle spirit and self pity. She only wants what is best for her family - as she sees it. The family follow her dictate in a sort of habitual haze, until gradually youthful energy and appetite for life will out - assisted by grandfather and lodger. As a family portrait, Awake and Sing may be slightly sepia coloured by the setting in the mid-thirties but the ‘eternal truths’ about characters and chemistry between people are so beautifully crafted and the execution in the Palace production so warm and vivid, the play is a sheer joy - like reading a meaty book you don't want to put down.
 
Watford’s own artistic director Lou Stein has created one of his best shows to date, his own New York background no doubt useful in getting both characters, environment and accents spot on. The choice of casting is exquisite. Doreen Mantle’s ever-fussing, bullying mother is a wonderful creation and centre for the action. Cyril Shaps, however, nearly steals the picture as the grandfather, mellowed by age, who shows real compassion for his grandson in between apparent withdrawal from the world to the sound of his beloved Caruso and his books. Bessie’s husband, Myron, is delicately drawn by Martin Friend as the submissive breadwinner, who feels guilt over the crash of his business reducing his family’s circumstances. Michael J Jackson plays embittered but positive war veteran Moe with just the right contrast to the family, whose downward slide into depression he refuses to become part of, lingering only to rescue the girl he loves and wants with an almost brutal arrogance. The object of his attention, Hennie, is Neighbours’ blonde Daphne, Elaine Smith, turned brunette and struggling slightly with the accent, but as crisp and matter-of-fact as the character must be to justify the ending of the play. Mark Coleman makes a wonderful wimp as her husband, worrying more about the baby than his elusive love life. He finally realises and comes running home to mother-in-law moaning that he doesn't like playing second fiddle, which prompts the wry aside from Mrs Berger, the instigator of his misery: “You don't even play in the orchestra.”
 
This delightful family portrait is set off by the perfect frame; Martin  John’s design is an absolute delight, the kind that makes you feel a fly on the wall from the moment the curtain goes up for an evening of superb theatre.