‘The Petition’

Press, 4 May 1988, Page 8

‘The Petition’

“The Petition,” by Brian Clark, directed by Peter Barrett for the Court Theatre, at the Court Two Theatre, from Tuesday, May 2. Running time: 8.15 p.m. to 9.50 p.m. Reviewed by John Farnsworth. “We have lived on different planets” says Lady Milne and, in many ways, she sums up what “The Petition” is about. Londoners General Sir Edmund and Lady Elizabeth Milne are ancients, establishment figures quietly living out their final years together. Until, that is, the general finds to his astonishment that Elizabeth has signed an anti-nuclear bomb petition. This one small revelation leads inexorably to another until their hidden lives, their future and the yawning chasm between their outlooks, covered over for 30 years, are laid bare. More than that, even, these two stand as metaphors whose opposed terms are expanded to global proportions: male/ female, conduct/wilfulness, reason/feeling, duty/pleasure, war/peace and so on.

The playwright weaves nimbly through all these concepts, sprinkling them with a deprecating wit, although some of the arguments have a rather well worn air to them.

Indeed, the play itself lacks a little for urgency, which is compounded by a director seemingly determined to keep all his theatrical powder dry for the big scenes late in the second half.

Nevertheless, there is a warmth and sense of assurance about the two performances. Elizabeth Moody is rightly muted, apart from her neatly -acid ripostes to her husband, while Geoffrey Wearing’s patrician General blends effortlessly with Tony Geddes’s well appointed apartment set. As a duo they play comfortably to each other although the General is distinctly too kindly an old buffer and his wife too youthful a 70-year-old to strike the correct balance. of reminiscence and tension at times, especially in the first act. In total, this is a play of revelation and of characters wedded to particular attitudes that almost looks back to Ibsen for its inspiration, even though its issues are very modern. It is best when its characters engage in an emotional and mental struggle which, in turn, fully involves its audience. In all, with more of an early edge, this production has the capacity to move from being watchable to something more compelling.