by Ronald Harwood

14th - 23rd September 2006

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Equally Divided
The Grange Players
Grange Playhouse, Walsall
MANY families will have experienced the feelings of frustration and injustice so cleverly uncovered in this play by South Africa born Ronald Harwood.
Spinster Edith Taylor, having sacrificed part of her own life nursing her ailing mother, resents a half share of the estate going to her several times married and comfortably off sister, Renata.
The tense situation creates some delightfully funny moments while the pair wait for the solicitor to arrive and reveal full details of the will, with Lynne Young superb as the brooding Edith, seeking a fairer, even if illegal, solution.
Along comes local antique dealer Fabian Hill (Paul Viles), a loveable rogue with a cunning plan to manipulate mum’s amazing collection of ornaments, but can they get away with it?
Lynne and Paul are an excellent partnership, with Christine Whistance impressive as the more glamorous but irritating sister Renata, and David Stone an amusing Charles Mowbray, the solicitor with an eye for Renata and a hand for his clients’ antiques.
Stone also directs the play which benefits from a beautifully constructed set representing the family home in a converted railway carriage overlooking the beach on the south coast.
Verdict: * * * *
PAUL MARSTON