Review: Entertaining Angels starring Penelope Keith at The Lowry

Sep 30 2009 Chester Chronicle

ENTERTAINING ANGELS/The Lowry, Salford Quays, until October 3

REVIEW/by Peggy Woodcock

SHE did it to the manner born. No-one does middle england widowhood better than Penelope Keith.

So in Entertaining Angels at The Lowry, Salford Quays, on Monday, the actress best known for the TV sitcoms The Good Life and To The Manner Born, was perfectly cast as Grace, newly bereaved of husband, Bardolph, late vicar of the parish..

There she was, hands thrust in the pockets of her sensible cardigan, in the beautiful vicarage garden, being rude to long-suffering sister, daughter and the wife of the new vicar already – how dare she! - measuring for new curtains.

Except she wasn't the wife, she WAS the vicar, one of the several surprises that emerged during this entertaining comedy that so perfectly showcased Keith's talent for portraying upper class grumpiness. Here it was interchanged with chats with her dead husband, pottering in and out the greenhouse in battered hat..

But she had some wonderful lines, so all credit to writer Richard Everett. The plot stretched our powers of belief but you forgave him for the quality of lighting. Equally, you excused the contrived shifting of action between garden and a stream, at the bottom of, because the set was such a warm, sunny affair.

Keith and her hauteur commanded the stage, especially as outrage was added when sister Ruth 's shocking secret was told. Polly Adams, as Ruth, was also superb and the sparring of these two veteran actresses, who know all about timing and tone, was a pleasure.

They were well supported by Benjamin Whitrow, as a gentle Bardolph and Carolyn Backhouse did a good job reconciling all three. But Claudia Elmhirst,sadly, didn't convince as prospective vicar Sarah.

There was a denouement with tears, of course, rounding off an evening of pleasant, amusing theatre.