BWW Reviews: THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY Delights With Its Gentle Humour

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 6th November 2014

Herbert Ernest Bates, better known as H.E. Bates, wrote the first of five books about the Larkin family in 1958, taking its title, The Darling Buds of May, from Shakespeare's eighteenth sonnet. The Therry Dramatic Society is bringing to life the eccentric characters in this gently comical book in their production of the play of the same title.

Sidney Charles "Pop" Larkin and Florence Daisy "Ma" Larkin, along with their son and five daughters, live an idyllic life in the Kent countryside where he wheels and deals as a scrap metal merchant, and pursues any other sources of income, such strawberry and hop picking which become a family activity There is just one small catch and that is that Pop has never paid any income tax, a point which has not gone unnoticed by Inland Revenue. Having sent him numerous tax return forms to complete and, having had no reply, they have sent Mr. Cedric Charlton to ensure that, this time, Pop fills in the form.

Pop and Ma, with help from their beautiful seventeen year old daughter, Mariette, set about distracting Mr. Charlton, whom they re-Christen Charley, in an effort to make him forget about the form. Pop does it with the aid of his Spanish galleon shaped cocktail cabinet from which he produces a wide range of powerful alcoholic concoctions, Ma does it with copious quantities of home cooked meals, and Mariette, well, let's just say that she introduces him to the bluebell woods.

As in the book, Ma and Pop are the main characters, closely followed by Charley and Mariette. The other five children are there, but have little to say or do, and numerous other characters come and go but, again, make quite brief appearances to add to the colour and humour of life at the home of the Larkins.

Tim Williams and Tracey Walker play Pop and Ma Larkin, filling their performances with the joie de vivre that one would expect for these two characters. They successfully convince us that every moment of their day and every event, big or small, is a source of pleasure and celebration for them and their entire family. Williams and Walker build great warmth between them, displaying that easy affection shared between Pop and Ma born of years of love between them. These two strong characterisations are the foundation for the whole production. When Pop says, "Home looks nice. Allus does though, don't it? Perfick!", Williams convinces that he means it, and is speaking for the whole family.

Ron Densley plays Mr. Charlton, the rough wind that threatens to shake these darling buds, and his first appearance shows us a determined, efficient, prim and proper, and somewhat officious young man. He has not met anybody like the Larkin family and has no defence whatsoever against the overwhelming goodwill with which they bombard him. Densley beautifully conveys Charley's demise, or growth, depending on your point of view, as he adapts to the Larkin lifestyle and leaves his past life behind.

A big influence on Charley's remarkable transition is Mariette, who immediately takes a liking to the naive young man and, unsurprisingly, he falls head over heels for her. Abby Hampton gives us a Mariette who is all sweetness and light, bright as a button, and highly flirtatious. Hampton gives her character a high degree of physicality, flouncing across the stage, full of energy, and gives every reason for us to understand why Charley throws in his job to stay with the Larkins.

There are good, strong performances in the numerous smaller roles, too, which makes this such a tight production. Director, Hayley Horton, has done a great job with casting, and has gone on to capture the spirit of the book, and the times.

The Brigadier, who Pop refers to as the General, is played by Norman Caddick, and his vast experience shows in his fully developed characterisation in what is actually a minor role. He is every bit the retired army man, right down to that military bearing, convincing us that he really is living on a small pension that doesn't quite cover his needs, yet too proud to beg for help. There are lessons to be learned by newcomers in his superb performance.

Megan Dansie barely gets onto the stage before she has the audience in stitches, as Edith Pichester, the frustrated, plain, middle aged, spinster neighbour. She and Williams really bounce off of each other in their playful flirting, generating some good belly laughs.

Miriam Keane plays the well-bred socialite, Angela Snow, who very quickly catches on to the fact that Pop is a live wire and becomes a willing co-conspirator in some of his fun schemes. Keane brings that sense of playfulness to the role that, although we understand from her speech and style that she is of the upper classes, she is far from stiff and aloof.

Steve Marvanek and Julia Whittle play Sir George and Lady Bluff-Gore, he a crusty old member of a family traceable back though many generation, and she a woman who is fed up with that whole thing and longing for the freedom that they would have, if she could only persuade him to sell the ancestral home to Pop. Again, their characterisations and interactions draw plenty of laughs.

Charley's boss, the Tax Inspector is played by Robert Drusetta, presenting an annoyed and incredulous man who cannot understand Charley leaving the tax office for a life with the larkins, and Lani Gerbi plays the over-sexed Pauline Jackson, who gets into a fight with Mariette after she makes a play for Charley, following a day of strawberry picking

The Larkin children are: Montgomery, Jakob Maddocks, Primrose, Issy Darwent, the twins, Zinnia, Serenna Williams, and Petunia, Georgina Raftopoulos, and the youngest, Victoria, Isla Zorkovic. They a delightful group as the Larkin's excitable, and always hungry young family, all five working well to add more life to every scene in which they appear.

Reading the books today one might think that they are falsely nostalgic, and filled with excessively exaggerated characters and situations. H. E. Bates wrote the first book in the series in 1958. My parents moved us from South West London to Kent in 1959, and the countryside really was that idyllic, especially for an inquisitive teenager with an old but reliable bicycle. I was even at high school with people who could very well have been the Larkin's children. People like that really existed and, in fact, he wrote the books having seen a family in an old truck, stop to buy ice creams and crisps, and they then became the basis for his Larkin family.

If you have never met the Larkins, then you are in for a treat and, if you have read the books, or you saw the television series from twenty years ago, you will need no telling, to encourage you to see this very enjoyable production.

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