Richmond Theatre: “My Wonderful Day”

With the play focusing on the day in the life of a nine year old and it being half term, I expected a somewhat younger audience than the mature folk gracing Richmond Theatre last night. I was also surprised to learn that the play ran for 1 hour 45 minutes without an interval – although it became apparent that it would have been hard to find a suitable break.

The play is about Winnie, a nine year old who accompanies her mum Laverne (expertly played by Petra Letang) - who is due to give birth in 10 days - to her cleaning job. Winnie’s homework is to write about “My wonderful day”, while only speaking French (as it’s Tuesday) and watching the drama in the Tait household unfold once her mother is whisked away to hospital. Mr Tait (a tempestuous Kevin – played by Terence Booth) is having an affair with Tiffany (Ruth Gibson – all long legs, short skirt and high heels) and today is the day that the wife Paul discovers them in flagrante delicto. The only other character is Josh (played by Paul Kemp) who is a business associate who spends some of the day minding Winnie – and brings a dose of sad modern day reality as he despairs about the pain of only seeing his own daughter every other weekend.

Whilst Winnie does not have many lines, Ayesha’s portrayal of a nine year old is convincing. The postures, gestures, eye glances and foot kicking made me wonder just how old she really was – her performance was authentic, comic and enthralling in equal measure. Although without a rudimentary knowledge of French you might miss some of the comedy. The manner in which all the adults speak down to Winnie – and louder when they believe her not able to speak English – is the ultimate cliché of patronising middle class.

There are touching moments too – where, for example, Tiffany sadly reflects on whether parents love the children that they despatch to boarding school - “Lonely love” was strong scripting. The final scene really did have us laughing out loud and the wife (Alexandra Mathie) was fabulous. Tiffanie’s wail of “But I didn’t mean any harm” echoed the recent press reports of numerous wannabe WAGs.

Alan Ayckbourn is one of my favourite contemporary playwrights. His ability to get the middle classes to laugh at themselves through his beautifully observed snatches of real life and irony is well loved. However, in this instance he appears to have lost his touch a little. The play is somewhat slow to start and whereas usually he has multiple storylines interweaving to a comic climax, “My wonderful day” feels a little two dimensional. Nevertheless, the acting (particularly of the lead – Ayesha Antonine – and the wife – Alexandra Mathie) is fabulous and the second half had enough pace and laughs to merit a visit. Enjoyable.