Review of Loft Theatre Company production of Time of My Life (2012)

By the time he wrote this play in the 1990s, Alan Ayckbourn’s glory days appeared to be long past. The wickedly funny satire that permeated the likes of Absent Friends and How the Other Half Loves was a distant memory.

You can’t entirely quash an old master, however, and there is the occasional flash of sardonic brilliance, but largely this takes us over old, well-trodden ground in landmarking relationships that are turning sour, marriages which have become battlegrounds and lives which are impacted by cruel twists of fate.

Unfortunately, it could all be said in half the time this production takes up. Most of the blame must lie with the play but Vanessa Comer’s direction is too reverential where it should be a lot more sparky and, with two notable exceptions, the characters go through the motions superficially without achieving any real sense of Ayckbourn’s traditional underlying darkness.

The salvaging lies principally with Kate Willis as a monster maternal figure, railing against her two sons’ choices of wives, sometimes in a spitefully hoarse whisper, sometimes splendidly spitting venom. This performance enables the true spirit of Ayckbourn Past to resurface for some fine moments. And Zoe Faithfull again proves a valuable addition to the Loft acting ranks as a harassed daughter-in-law striving to escape the shackles of a stifling marriage.

Ayckbourn’s juggling of time and space seems somewhat contrived now and the restaurant setting, though attractively designed by the director and Kimberlee Green, does restrict the party meal action to a point too far upstage.

The restaurateur and four of his staff are all played by David Mears with remarkable agility and mostly to good comic effect, but the Marlon Brando impressions were an offer that should have been refused.

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Peter McGarry is an experienced, independent professional theatre critic who has agreed to review Loft Theatre Company productions.

The agreement with the Loft is that Peter is free to express his opinions for good or ill. The Loft Theatre Company has no control whatsoever over the content of these reviews and will never comment publicly on what he writes.