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  The
Argosy Players in: Relative Values by Noël Coward
Staged: 10 to 12 December 1964 at Crane Theatre Hanover Street
Liverpool
A
really good play tends to run and run, and Noel Coward’s “Relative Values”,
written in 1951, was still playing to packed houses around the country in
2014. Sadly however, we can no longer appreciate the Argosy Players’ version save from looking at the production
photographs and write-up below, from Martins Bank Magazine’s Spring 1965
edition. The Argosy Players are by now old hands, and have a good reputation
across Merseyside, with porsitive reviews often headlining the round-ups of
local Operatic and Dramatic productions in the Liverpool
Echo. Once more, the superstar of Martins’ premier repertory
company is Eric Wylie, of whose performance is it said, “he knows how to act
without speaking or moving”. Five curtain calls show it was worth the
audience missing that night’s TV having not been lured away by either of TWO of ITV’s
top-rated shows, but Martins Bank Magazine is almost venomous in its
criticism of those who chose to stay at home in front of the television.
Barbed remarks are reserved in particular for those on the staff who hadn’t
bothered to go along and support their colleagues but had the temerity to
comment on how good they heard it had all been…
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 in the face of opposition from Dr Kildare and Double your
Money the rejuvenated Argosy Players opened their production of Noel
Coward's appropriately named Relative Values on December 10th at
Crane Theatre, Liverpool. The audience on the first night clearly felt that
their journey had been worth while for only the lights going on stilled the
applause which would have brought a fifth curtain call. Said a
colleague the following morning: 'I'm told last night's show was good'.
'Yes' we replied, and waited. 'H'm. Well, I'm surprised'. 'Why? 'Oh well. I
don't know. I might go now'. So we told him that the best seats for the
Friday and Saturday had been sold but he might still enjoy the play from
behind a pillar which was as much as he deserved and, duly shamed, he
departed.
Left to Right: Peta Pritchard, Harold Dixon, Terence Mudd, Maud Melville, Eric Wylie and Barbara Pinnington
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It is in this
way, one supposes, that revivals come about. On the first night the theatre
was little more than two-thirds full but we understand that the attendance
during the rest of the week was better. The Players were determined to make
a comeback despite a shoe-string budget (the dress rehearsal was held on a
Sunday afternoon in the Head Office basement), a young but enthusiastic
cast, and, of course, the toppermost of the poppermost on TV: that they
succeeded was due to sheer determination and enthusiasm and to the presence
in the cast of two old hands in the amateur stage world, Maud Melville and
Eric Wylie. Felicity, Countess of
Marshwood, is the central character who carries this typically Coward play,
no matter how impressive may be the other names in the cast. Maud
Melville's portrayal of this pillar of the British aristocracy had
everything that the British like their aristocracy to have; a grand manner,
a sense of humour, and a way of quickly appraising people and events and
dealing with them effectively, charmingly, cunningly or devastatingly as
circumstances demand. The audience loved her and one felt that the cast did
too.
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Marshall Hesketh remonstrates with Keith Naylor and Valerie Parish…
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…whilst Gillian Ralphs and Eric Wylie register doubt.
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She bossed, cajoled and harried them with the authority, sympathy and
sure touch of a huntsman with his hounds. Eric Wylie, as Crestwell the
phlegmatic and philosophical if sometimes pompous butler, discovered long
ago how to act without speaking or moving. In future productions—of which
there should be many and we hope he will feature in them—we would merely
advise audiences and budding actors to watch his face! Marshall Hesketh as Nigel, Earl of Marshwood, and Valerie Parish as his film
star fiancée (local tart makes good) played convincingly throughout, as did
Barbara Pinnington as Moxie, the personal maid and loyal servant of the
Countess. Her difficult role of sister to the film star won the audience
and demanded rapid changes in expression and manner when coping with her
employer ('But, Madam!') and the butler ('Oh shut up, Fred!') at the same
time. Gillian Ralphs, Peta Pritchard, Terence Mudd and Harold Dixon
extracted as much from Noel Coward's situations and lines as he and
producer Mr Frank Warburton could allow, while Keith Naylor as the far from
extinguished flame in the film star's love-life provided a realistic touch
to a Hollywood romance with all its complications. It was an
enjoyable and successful evening and we hope that our autumn issue will
carry news of the Argosy Players' next production.
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 M
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