REVIEW: THE HOLLY AND THE IVY Won over by touch of period nostalgia (From Echo)

REVIEW: THE HOLLY AND THE IVY Won over by touch of period nostalgia

1:00am Friday 16th December 2011 in Theatre By Hannah Marsh

WHEN I interviewed director Michael Lunney about the Holly and the Ivy, he told me if you were the kind of person who enjoyed curling up in front of an old black-and-white movie by an open fire with a glass of something nourishing, you’d love the play.

He couldn’t have been more accurate. As I snuggled down in the Palace Theatre’s comfy velvet seats with a glass of something, well, warming, I felt like I was stepping back in time for a nostalgic evening at the pictures.

The action is set in a vicarage in the late Fifties, as society was beginning to recover from the ravages of the Second World War.

Ageing parson Martin Gregory is cared for by his loving daughter Jenny, but it soon emerges she has dreams of her own.

The tensions slowly bubble beneath the surface with the arrival of Martin’s son Mick, an affable young soldier who doesn’t see eye to eye with his father’s plans for him to follow in his footsteps and go to Cambridge, two old aunts and a rather rakish cousin.

Missing from the family picture is Martin’s other daughter Margaret, a fashion journalist, who Jenny hopes to persuade to come home and take her turn caring for their father. When she does finally show up, the secrets begin to make their way out.

There’s more than a hint of Chekhov, as layers are peeled away and characters reveal more of themselves as the tension slowly builds and threatens to engulf the whole family, and with three acts and two intervals, it’s certainly a slow burner.

But you find yourself being sucked into the family’s little world, each character a mirror for various facets of society post-war, reflecting back moments of pain and introspecive anxiety as they consider themselves, each other, religion and truth.

The performances are moving and strong, Stuart McGugan is convincing as the parson, who although has moments of dodderiness, is still sharp.

Corinne Wicks is icy as Margaret, but gradually thaws as her character begins to crack and Chris Grahamson, as Mick, really conjures up the period with his mannerisms and way of speaking.

Julia Mallam is warm and kind as “wonderful” Jenny, and the aunts provided a comic highlight.

If you want your heart warmed before Christmas and a bit of nostalgia and good old-fashioned entertainment .

The Holly and the Ivy Palace Theatre, London Road, Westcliff.

£13.50-£25.50 8pm.

Saturday matinee, 2.30pm. Until tomorrow 01702 351135