Michael Frayn’s Benefactors is a beautifully rich play and Mark Kilmurry’s production is superb.
Set in late 60’s England, it’s a comic four-hander presenting the changing dynamics of two marriages.
Colin and Sheila live near David and Jane, but visit so often it’s as though they live with them. It’s an old dramatic trick, the juxtaposition of two couples so they compare relationships, and we do too.
This comic exploration happens in the foreground of architect David’s plans for a housing development. An old grey district will be torn down, to be replaced by two whopping towers
Frayn directly references Ibsen’s The Master Builder and overtly connects the building project – its hubris, its hollowness, its hope – with other human ambitions. Of course, it’s a literary conceit dating back to Genesis, to the unknown writer who crafted the story of the tower of Babel. Frayn is working in a grand tradition and does so magnificently, offering humour and deep insight.
Kilmurry and his team know they have a gem to work with and they make it shine. Gareth Davies’ David is a gorgeous mixture of narrow obsession and gentle-heartedness. His final line is gold. Emma Palmer’s portrait of Jane is fascinatingly complex: a sharp, intelligent woman, brave enough to acknowledge her bewilderment at the workings of time. Colin, played by Matt Minto, is a delightfully provocative concoction of arrogance and perceptiveness. Megan Drury, as Colin’s pitifully perplexed wife Sheila, delivers a performance both hilarious and deeply moving.
The world is imperfect. What do we do? Accept the flaws? Tear everything down and start again? Or do we beaver away, slowly attempting to rehabilitate what we have? And, whatever our decision, time flows on, washing away some of the old problems, while ever depositing new ones.
Benefactors is both a wonderful evening’s entertainment, and an invitation to return to further explore its extraordinary richness.
Paul Gilchrist
Benefactors by Michael Frayn
at Ensemble until 22 July
Image by Prudence Upton