'Time And The Conways' at The National Theatre

On Tuesday we went to see 'Time And The Conways' by JB Priestley at the National Theatre. I don't think I've ever seen or read any Priestley and that's clearly an error on my part that I need to put right.

It's the tale of the Conway family, posh and well funded, in an imaginary Midlands town after the First World War. It's the night of Kay Conway's 21st birthday party and the family and some friends are playing charades. We're introduced to all the characters in the play, quite thoroughly and unobtrusively. Time passes and it's the night of Kay's 40th birthday with a family meeting to discuss the dire financial state of the mother - 19 years has seen lots of changes to the family which has disintegrated into people who know each other but no longer really care for each other except for going through the motions of family life at a distance. We then whiz back to the closing of Kay's 21st birthday where the seeds of future dissent and troubles are sewn.

It's a play of three acts and two intervals and runs to over three hours but it didn't feel long at all. Each act opened and closed with some very odd staging that shrieked 'young director trying to do something different for the sake of it' - it didn't add anything to the play at all. Irrespective of that, I enjoyed the play, actually liked it rather than just appreciated it, and I don't really know why. Despite some of the harder themes, it felt like one of those period dramas on telly on a Sunday evening, girls in fancy frocks and frightfully nice jolly hockey-stick accents. I liked it in the second act when all their accents shifted slightly, still posh but in that brittle way that only ever seems to have been spoken in the 1930s (which is when the act is set).

Moving forward and then back in time illustrates the small actions and things said that change the course of time, something Priestley seemed to like playing with. This was complemented by the set and the costumes (which reminded me a bit of Jane Austin's 'Mansfield Park' in the way that characters are reflected in their environments) with Kay, the aspiring writer, dressed in an ivory silk evening frock as a young girl but buttoned up tight in a grey suit as the bitter 40 year old journalist with failed love affairs behind her with her brittle accent and endless cigarettes.

The only happy person in the family was Alan, the eldest son, who is content to go through the war as a lance-corporal and then work in the local town hall as a clerk, far from the high flying ambitious younger brother who descends into debt, a failed marriage and a rootless life. The only annoying thing about him is that he's the character Priestley decides should expound on his theory of time.

I enjoyed the play and it made me want to see more of Priestley's work.