THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By Jerome K. Jerome, adapted by Clive Francis
The Mill at Sonning Theatre, Sonning Eye, Reading RG4 6TY, until July 13, 2024
Jerome K Jerome's 1889 comic novel fictionalized a trip he and his chums made up the Thames in a rowing boat. It became an instant hit, if not a classic, and demand for boating licences apparently doubled. At one point he describes the riverside hamlet of Sonning as "the most fairy-like little nook on the whole river…more like a stage village than one built of bricks and mortar". Well, there is now a successful theater on that same spot and what could be more perfect setting for staging Clive Francis' expert adaptation of this warm and witty book.
This gem of a theater, which seats 217, has now been going 42 years and uniquely is the only proper, ongoing, dinner theater in the UK. The format is of course more familiar to Americans, but in the United States they have a reputation for mostly lulling aging Floridians to sleep. Here this theater has gained an unrivaled reputation both nationally and internationally for quality work and their musicals in particular have a won a cart full of awards.
Dinner or lunch is included with your show (there is no 'theater only' option) and crucially these are served in a separate dining room, two in fact. It all adds up to making a visit to Sonning a really pleasurable experience especially on a languid summer day. The food is excellent and there's also a great bar which is dominated by the actual water wheel, which, up until 1969 fueled a fully functioning mill.
Francis's adaptation preserves the timeless humor of this beloved classic but also infuses it with a vibrancy which this great cast just run with. George Watkins is wonderfully chippy as Jerome or 'J' ("Gentlemen do not raise their voices on the river"!) and Sean Rigby is droll and avuncular as Harris, while James Bradshaw is delightfully camp as George, of whom we learn that "on weekdays between 10 and 4 he sleeps at his bank". Rigby and Bradshaw will be familiar to fans of the much loved ITV series Endeavour.
Director Joe Harmston, whose direction is subtle, detailed and affectionate, has chosen to move the play's action forward in time the eve of the First World War. This allows for a coda which adds a great poignancy to the piece, ruminating on the very likely chance that they would have not returned. The trio here are also younger than in the book. Rather than middle aged men pottering about on the river, these men are in their prime and the jaunt represents for them more of an opportunity for adventure as anything else.
As their odyssey progresses, there are funny anecdotes, teasing and laughter and some quintessentially English encounters with, for example, competitive fishermen and a burly lock-keeper. While on the surface it might all appear rather trivial, it radiates with the warmth of camaraderie and makes us ponder just how important comradeship is to help us navigate the currents of life.
The trio of actors gel brilliantly, and it is steeped in Victoriana, such as the music hall, with the men singing a wistful 'Two Lovely Black Eyes' or a jolly 'Champagne Charlie'.
Natalie Titchener's costumes, all boaters and summer linens, incorporate a Union Jack for 'J', and, for the normally shy Harris, a shock of orange and yellow. Sean Cavanagh's wonderfully inventive set maximizes this small apron stage perfectly and fully and Tom Lishman's sound design is just flawless. The production values are testament to the commitment to quality that runs through this place.
