Nice People in Still Life

After the disappointment of last night at The Roundhouse, Chris treated me to a reading of Noel Coward's 'Still Life' at the National Theatre. I was slightly delayed by a late meeting at work so missed the opening and had to sit up in the balcony but I'm pleased I made it, out of breath from scurrying along the south bank as I was.

I've never really bothered with Noel Coward and he's never said anything to me, either through his plays or songs or films. I don't think I've ever seen 'Brief Encounter' (the film of 'Still Life') all the way through so I'm not really familiar with the plot but it was an eye-opener to see the original play tonight.

The actors read the play from scripts while acting it out on stage. The stage was set for the performance later this evening with bits of furniture moved and the actors were in their own clothes, not costumes. I didn't have any idea how this would work but either their performances or the writing made it irrelevant really, as I got pulled into the story.

As with all good writing, there were several stories going on at the same time. The young lovers flirting with each other, the nice middle class strangers meeting in a station and the older station workers with a relaxed approach to their companionship, different classes and generations. There were also stories of the station staff living their colourful lives amidst the monochrome transient travellers, interacting but not relating. I'd never thought so before from what I recalled of snatches of 'Brief Encounter', but it's quite a complex piece of writing.

There was a poignant moment in the latter half of the play when the Trevor Howard character complains that he and Laura are 'nice people', an almost damning statement. They are nice people living in a nice world, removed from the problems of drunken soldiers making life difficult for tea room workers, but their very nice-ness means they lack colour and life. When passion enters it threatens to destroy their nice, protected world and they can't respond naturally to it, not like the tea-room lady who flirts with the station guard or the young waitress who happily gets into trouble with her mother for a few minutes of fun. The very niceness of the central characters is what ruins their lives.

The ending was so tragic, when Laura's gabby friend appears at the station meaning that Laura and Alec can't say goodbye and all they can do is touch hands as he leaves to catch his train. How unsatisfying. The nice people can't even say a proper goodbye, it's simply not allowed by the rules and conventions of their lives. Especially when contrasted with the station staff dismissing them as 'Romeo and Juliet' and Laura's friend gossiping about people they know having affairs and getting divorced. And our hero and heroine can't even hold hands properly. It was touching.

Harriet Walter played Laura and Alex Jennings played Alec, both very good indeed. The older couple working in the station were played by Sheila Reid and John Burgess who were equally good, full of the life and sparkle so missing in the tortured Laura and Alex.

I'm very pleased to have seen this performance. And also pleased to have had a tantalising glimpse of the set for the performance scheduled for later in the evening... but that's another story.