EDWARD Bond described his 1973 play The Sea as a tragicomedy, and certainly, in Jonathan Munby’s new production for Bath Theatre Royal, there are strong elements of both the epically tragic and the hilariously comedic.

And there are elements of lots of other theatrical tropes, too. The puzzled audience can look out for moments of GB Shaw, of Chekhov, of Brighouse, of Forster …..

It all starts with an ENORMOUS noise, as crashing waves break over a foundering boat off the east coast of England. A man (Colin) fights for his life, eventually succumbing to the raging sea. There are lots of gobos in this Paul Wills design, allowing the sea in its various moods to providing a shifting backdrop.

Against the backdrop, the residents of the East Anglian seaside village variously react to the dreadful news, continue with their rehearsals for Orpheus and Euridice and run the draper’s shop as a cover for a conspiracy theory involving aliens invading from space. The choice of Bond’s play for a new production might perhaps be linked to the current fear of invasion.

It brings beloved actress Jennifer Saunders back to the Bath stage in one of the great comedic roles, that of the oh-too-recognisable Mrs Rafi, dictatorial lady of the manor, leading light of the am-drams and aunt of the unfortunate sailor, who hides a keen and
unflinchingly critical knowledge of her own true worth to the community. It’s a wonderful performance – grandiloquent, patronising, melodramatic and oddly wise. You can see why any actress would want to play the role.

Lucy Briers is Madge to her Dame Edna, as downtrodden companion Mrs Tilehouse who has the chance to bring the house down with her soaring hymn singing. Robert Mountford is the caricature vicar, and Daniel Rainford the clumsy and none-too-bright local lad.

Then here is Willy Carson, Colin’s friend, who was unable to save him from the deep, and Colin’s fiance Rose, who decides to leave the stultifying village with Willy.

And Hatch the barmy draper (Dominic Rowan), who in these days would clearly have seen alien forces in the air fryer. And “wise fool” Evens (Lloyd Hutchinson), a drunken, anti-social philosopher who lives on the beach, reads the tides, gazes at the stars and delivers the serious ending speech.

It’s a mish-mash of styles, which often looks as though Bond might have cut-and-pasted memories of plays in the way David Bowie cut and pasted words for lyrics. He saw it as “rational theatre”. You’ll have to make your own mind up about that.

GP-W

Photographs by Marc Brenner