Building bridges

THERE’S a first! A spontaneous round of applause – even a muffled cheer here and there, and all for a motor car when the curtain went up after the interval...

Not any old car, mind you, this was one of those iconic products from just down the road – a Morgan – and very relevant to another bitter-sweet comedy delving into human relationships.

Hardly have the verbal volleys of Virginia Woolf and company had time to hightail it out of town and over the hills than it’s family rancour to the forefront once more, although this is much, much softer.

Writer in residence, Nick Wilkes, has created a neat and tidy in-house piece for this Malvernbard production and it gains strength from Jon Legg’s enterprising direction, Paul Ralph’s comfortable set and solid performances throughout.

A late stand-in for former Dr Who star Colin Baker, who had been taken ill, Peter Nolan slipped effortlessly into the role of Jim Bridges - as expected. Troubled by his past and how his long army life and absence had soured family relationships, there is a need to ‘build bridges’. The car is the key.

On stage throughout Nolan is so at ease in the role he could easily have been any of ours’ dad and he had a considerable rapport with Richard Massery, his spirited American friend and next door neighbour, Danny Rasmus.

Providing the perfect foil, he makes the most of the funnier ripostes and though somewhat predictable there are some fine comic moments, especially when certain phrases are misconstrued by Murray Andrews’ enjoyably geeky Jeremy Haltwhistle.

There are nicely measured performances too from Adrian Ross-Jones and Elaine Hartley as Bridges’ approaching middle-age children, Mark and Mog.

It’s very much middle of the road, nothing too testing or too deep. Easy to grasp and satisfyingly enjoyable with all the loose ends tidied up.

A shame the audience was so few. Mog deserved more support.