The funny and poignant play set in a retirement home for musicians. Opera singers Cecily, Reggie, Wilfred, at the end of their careers, find themselves relatively impoverished because they have always been ‘on tour’ and have no homes to retire to. Annually they put on an entertainment to mark the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, the composer.
All is sweetness and light until the arrival of Jean, an opera star whose husband had died leaving her unexpectedly without a home and unable to keep to the lifestyle to which she is accustomed. The play then follows the inter-personal relationships of the four characters while they are trying to find a way they could perform for the concert. Voices are not what they used to be!
Set in a retirement home and revolving around the titular foursome of past-it opera singers, Quartet is a funny – at times very funny – meditation on the inevitable ageing process. How fitting, then, that Market Harborough Drama Society stalwart John Foreman should have been coaxed out of directorial retirement to call the shots on this one.
Mark Aspland is Reginald, whose “marmalade tirades” prove a highlight, offering an insight into what is clearly a deeply unsettled man put under further pressure by the arrival of his ex, the imperious Jean, played by Teresa Quigley. “It’s not fun,” Jean wails at one point, neatly encapsulating the show’s main theme. “Nothing is fun anymore.”
Cissy, meanwhile, is a delightfully optimistic Pollyanna, brought to life by the note-perfect Nicci Harvey, while few would argue that the show’s most valuable player is Tony Price as the terminally priapic Wilf. He has most of the rib-tickling lines (though Jean’s acidic put-downs of Cissy run him close), and he brings a mischievous 1970s sitcom energy to proceedings. Bravo.
Ultimately, as character layers peel away, the quartet reveal more of themselves and – especially in the second half – laughs are tempered by moments of melancholy and revelation. The result is a finely observed character piece as funny as it is moving and thought-provoking.
— Edited from Andrew Holmes’ review in the Harborough Mail
Reginald Paget (Reggie) – Mark Aspland
Wilfred Bond (Wilf) – Tony Price
Cecily Robson (Cissy) – Nicci Harvey
Jean Horton – Teresa Quigley
Photography by Peter Crowe
Directed by John Foreman
This amateur production of Quartet is presented by Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk