In British playwright Michael Frayn’s 1984 play is set in 1960s. The main character David is an idealistic architect who is working on plans to build new homes to replace the slum housing in Basuto Road. Because of this terrible housing shortage he finds himself designing for skyscrapers. Then he hits a very unplanned obstacle. His neighbour Colin, who he has been so helpful to, starts a grassroots campaign against the housing project.
Frayn’s narrative plays out quite unexpectedly, interspersed with comic and dramatic moments. For me, however, the plot took a back seat. My main interest lay in the four well drawn characters, so well portrayed by the cast.
Gareth Davies plays the measured, reserved David who speaks in a very particular kind of way. He is very cerebral, lets his wife wear the pants, is very neutral in the way he relates, and basically is a bit of a wuss.
Emma Palmer plays his wife Jane. Of the four characters she is the most grounded and handles herself well.
Matt Minto is Colin, part larrakin, part stirrer, part misogynist. He makes the group uneasy. Colin is toxic though at times funny
Megan Drury is his wife Sheila. She has a big heart however she is emotionally very needy which is off-putting and leaves her on the outer.
KIlmurry’s staging is effective with, at times, two characters on either side, down stage, as the other two interact in the main stage area.
Kilmurry’s creative team comprised set and costume designer Nick Fry (the set was attractive to look at, with the centrepiece being a long, thinnish table on which David would often work on his plans), soundscape by David Grigg, lighting designer Matt Cox and assistant director Margaret Thanos.
This was my experience of the play. BENEFACTORS was about how we, as human beings, try and navigate the new people who enter their lives, in order to work out their place, if any, in our lives.
David and Jane welcome their new, rather needy neighbours , in to their home, and lives, and their fraught journey, stems from there.
This is an eloquent play as is Kilmurry’s production .
BENEFACTORS is playing the Ensemble Theatre until 22 July 2023.
Production photography by Prudence Upton