Windsor Berkshire

26/1/2007 - Theatre Royal Windsor

Last night's performance of Treats by Christopher Hampton, at Windsor Theatre Royal was excellent and this production fully deserves its upcoming west end run. The young cast of Kris Marshall, Billie Piper and Laurence Fox rolled seemingly effortlessly through this Look Back in Anger for the new Millenium. Essentially the plot boils down to a story of domestic violence and the choices we make.

Fox had the hardest task, playing the underwritten part of Patrick the office bore in a rebound relationship with Ann (Piper) who is forced to attempt to battle for her affections when Dave her abusive ex-boyfriend returns from abroad.

It is a battle he cannot win. The heart of the play is whether Ann can stand the withering emotional and physical assault of the return of Kris Marshall's Dave, a man she is attracted to and repulsed by in equal measure. Billie Piper shows the world she really is a very competent stage actress as well as being a television star. At the start she had a wobbly few minutes but soon got into the part and acted her heart out. I was very impressed.

Kris Marshall really stands out in this production. He captured the essence of rapid fire wit underpinned by insecurityconfusion and menace to a tee, giving us an enlightening portrayal of an abusive personality.

Windsor rarely hosts such thought provoking theatre and it was heartening to see no empty seats. Less heartening was the lack of knee room in the royal stalls. They need to make the physical experience of sitting in the Theatre Royal a lot less cramped if the theatre is going to survive into the future. Younger audiences simply will not tollerate being sardine tinned in for shows. It might have been acceptable in our parent's day but fewer and fewer people these days will endure the discomfort of having your knees crushed by the seat in front for 2 hours in the name of theatre.

Labels: Billie Piper, Christopher hampton, Kris Marshall, Laurence Fox, review, theatre, treats

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Windsor woke this morning to a good dusting of settled snow. Pull on your thermals everyone. its going to be a cold day in the royal borough.

Windsor residents are once again legally free to use hosepipes, as the ban imposed by thames water was lifted today.

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust have written to us to say that the appeal in November to raise money to purchace Moor Copse over in Reading was a fantastic success and this important piece of Berkshire with its diverse wildlife has now been protected for future generations.

So, next time you fancy a bit of nature, head over to Moor Copse and see for yourself what local people can achieve when they care about something enough.