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(More customer reviews)Winner of the New York Critics Best Play of the Year Award in 1970, this hilariously funny but ineffably sad, five-character play by David Storey, directed by Lindsay Anderson, pairs Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud as two proud men who meet and talk in the garden of what appears to be some sort of assisted living facility. Well-spoken Jack (Richardson) and Harry (Gielgud), dressed in jackets and ties and carrying a cane and gloves, are clearly men of some status as they meet and make small talk--about the news, the clouds, varieties of chrysanthemums, whether Vale Evesham in England is the Garden of Eden, and the fact that their wives are not going to be visiting that day.
When they go off for a walk, two raucous and uninhibited women (brilliantly played by Mona Washbourne and Dandy Nichols) take their places in the garden, completely changing the mood. Kathleen (Washbourne) and Marjorie (Nichols) are obviously from a different background, with different accents, casual attitudes towards clothing and hygiene, bawdy humor, and a willingness to say absolutely anything. The fact that the women joke about having had shoelaces and belts removed and to being admitted involuntarily, one for the second time, ironically change our view of Jack and Harry, who they really are, and why they may be there.
When the men and the women all meet in the garden after lunch, their need to communicate, when they have so little in common, is touching. The men stay true to their class and upbringing and the women true to their own backgrounds, but all get teary at various times, and as they try to help each other, despite the fact their paths would never have crossed in "real" life, their universal need for companionship and understanding is highlighted. As the characters begin to confuse their stories, the viewer becomes aware that despite our hopes, the characters probably belong where they are.
Author David Storey, a Booker Prize winner for his novel Saville, has won innumerable awards for his plays, and this one is breath-taking. The actors are flawless, feeding off each other to make the play come alive. Small gestures and camera close-ups, especially with Richardson and Gielgud, make the drama intimate and powerfully affecting, and the final scene, accented by silent tears, is unforgettable. Productions like this are what theater is all about. Mary Whipple
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