(GayWebSource.com – Gay Media & Press Network) – Posted by Jake Simpson – TheGayUK.com

Ellie and Joe are a happy, elderly couple who share a passion for ballroom dancing and aim to win the next big local competition. As Elli is out one evening, putting the finishing touches to her ball gown, Joe answers the door to an unexpected visitor who is someone from their past bringing shattering news to their door and disturbing their settled domestic happiness. But who is this visitor, why is he here and what does he want from the couple?

By Paul Szabo | 2nd October 2013

★★★

Using only three cast members, the play explores how an unexpected incident, brought about by something from their past, impacts on the individual characters and complicates the relationships between them. In order to avoid any spoilers, all that will be said is that the story is told through a series of unfolding revelations which slowly explain the mystery surrounding the late night visit.

Harry Shearer (who is best known for “This is Spinal Tap” and being the voice of Mr Burns, Ned Flanders and others on The Simpsons) was perfectly cast as Joe and easily turned in the best performance of the evening, providing a flawless and natural performance which earned a genuine empathy for the character. His charismatic stage presence shone through and he was easily the highlight of the show. Maureen Lipman looked stunning and was on top form, with a confident, understated and solid performance of a woman battling her inner demons. Her attention to detail was noticeable and she was very believable as the character she was portraying. The cast was rounded off by John Bowe as the visitor. His performance was, unfortunately, a little “shouty” and over the top at times and was the complete antithesis of the natural and discrete performances of Shearer and Lipman. This was most likely down to both the writing and the character he was portraying, but when up against such strong performances from the other cast members, he did stand out slightly.

The static set was beautifully decorated, providing the inside of a New York apartment in all its 1980’s glory. The set was well utilised and well lit. The occasional use of sound effects provided an atmospheric environment and overall, the production values of the play were very high.

The show is a piece of theatre driven by the exploration of character as opposed to an unfolding narrative story. As a number of plot points are disclosed over the course of the play, each of which impact on the three characters, the actual events described are overshadowed by the bearing they bring upon the characters themselves and their relationships with each other. Each half of the play mainly consisted of an elongated exchange between two of the characters, involving long, monologue style pieces which sometimes slowed the pace of the play.

Whilst the performance and production of the play were generally of a high standard, the writing let it down to an extent. The play was slightly long and, at times, unnecessarily wordy. The character of Joe was perhaps the best written, but the other two characters didn’t garner too much empathy over the course of the play, despite the performances on offer. Some of the twists were not as unexpected as they could have been and the pace of the play was also a little uneven at times, with the characters moving from one extreme emotion to the polar opposite emotion within a matter of seconds, which hampered the realism of the story and undermined the believability of the characters.

However, what the play did deliver was a number of dramatic moments, some mystery and two excellent performances. The lack of narrative and focus on emotion and character provided for a play which was intriguing at times and which garnered a number of positive comments from the audience leaving the theatre.

Daytona is currently playing at the Sheffield Lyceum Theatre until the 5th October 2013 (http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/event/daytona-13/) before continuing on its national tour.

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