The Living Room, Bournemouth Little Theatre Club, Jameson Road
GRAHAM Greene converted to Catholicism in 1926, and thereafter spent much of his time exploring the nature of his chosen religion through the medium of his novels and plays.
This profound and thought-provoking drama is no exception, and the questions it poses about sin and guilt continue to disturb long after the curtain has fallen.
In a large house where numerous rooms have been shut off - portrayed in this production by a first-class set - crippled Father James Browne (Lee Tilson) and his spinster sisters Teresa (Enid Rothwell) and Helen (Estelle Hughes), are forced to question their beliefs when their great-niece, orphaned Rose Pemberton (Charlotte Parker), is brought to live with them by the executor of her mother's will, Michael Dennis (Martyn French).
Director Patricia Richardson once again displays her skill in bringing vibrant life to a script, and her entire cast - which also includes Laura Ferguson (Mary) and Louise Thomas (Mrs Dennis) - excels, making their characterisations so real that it is almost painful to observe their individual agonies. Certainly both Charlotte Parker and Estelle Hughes - the latter speaking in a voice eerily resembling fragmented glass - brought this particular audience member to the verge of tears in the final scenes.
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