Marion Allen's Number One Hobby is taking part in competitions. Marion Allen (Genevieve Swallow) has won a lot too, but with not altogether satisfactory prizes. In particular, she's won a room full of Crunchie bars (a UK chocolate-covered honeycomb bar made by Cadbury). As Marion puts it 'It's like that Midas Touch. I've got the Cadbury's Touch.

She likes to keep the house in order in an imaginative way, not always to the approval of husband Dave ('I think men just don't understand rag-rolling'). Female neighbours in her suburban street in Birmingham (a city in the Uk Midlands) reject her Crunchie offers with various excuses ('I'm with my lover. Who happens also to be a woman. What do you say to that, sister?). So Marion irons her tea towels, and reflects.

The play is in five scenes, separated by short fades to black for scene and costume changes. The set is a domestic interior, with chairs, an armchair, ironing board, iron and linen. It feels exactly right for what is happening. There's imaginative lighting design, which fits each of the five very different moods. Scenes are introduced by short sets of music (sound design by Bea Roberts) including Wet Wet Wet, Gabrielle, Wizard, Mark Knofler, Cliff Richard.

At first, the play seems a calm discussion and analysis of Marion's life with Dave and the people in their lives - their son Chris; neigbour Lindsay next door and her fat daughter Paige; how Dave and Marion met in Hirst Green Youth Club aged 16 and 14; married for 24 years.

There is a pivotal scene when this suddenly changes, and what lies behind Marion's hobby, and what she is saying, begins to emerge. The sudden change is a shock, its cause gradually trailed and revealed. Dialogue is sublime, exactly catching each situation ('The home was quiet and sad, and everything stayed where I left it').

Inside this remarkable play by Bea Roberts is a character of great beauty and integrity; a diary of a nobody evolves into a powerfully moving account of transcendent grace. Most playwrights struggle to put across the difficult things in people's paths, loading them with complicated situations, and heavy-handed preaching. Marion Allen's Number One Hobby looks in particular at what forgiveness really means: forgiveness without condescension, without putting the forgiver on a higher plane; without point-scoring. It is a profound play, a remarkable play, a touching and affecting study of goodness.

Genevieve Swallow gives an outstanding performance, subtly acted so that the acting feels invisible - she draws attention into the character, creating a superb feeling of authenticity. Her handling of the pivotal scene where the character's inner torment bursts out is subtle, convincing and feral. The concluding scenes in lesser hands could be spoiled by letting in too much sentiment, but in Genevieve Swallow's are astonishingly moving from their quiet containment. Direction by Emma Taylor catches all the elements and emotions of the script and performance, and presents them in a way so subtle that the direction is not overt - the play and performance are allowed to shine through. And the shining is brilliant.

Sound Credits: (in running order): (after Scene 1:) Wishing I Was Lucky (Wet Wet Wet); (after Scene 2:) When A Woman (Gabrielle); (after Scene 3:) See My Baby Jive (Wizard); (after Scene 4:) Get Lucky (Mark Knofler); (after Scene 5:) Lucky Lips (Cliff Richard).

Cast Credits: Genevieve Swallow - Marion Allen.

Company Credits: Writer - Bea Roberts. Director - Emma Taylor. Designer - Emma Taylor. Lighting Designer - uncredited. Sound Designer - Bea Roberts. Technical Director - Ash Lim. Technical Operator - Ash Lim. Box Office - India Rakusen. Theatre Manager - Alexandra Smith. Co-Producer - Alexandra Smith. Co-Producer - Emma Taylor. Company - Canal Café Theatre.

END

John Park

reviewed Sunday 13 June 2010 / Canal Café Theatre, London, UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

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