In the early 1980s, legendary American playwright Neil Simon wrote a trilogy of semi- autobiographical plays;Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985) and Broadway Bound (1985). Rockdale Theatre Guild’s has chosen to produce the first play in line.
BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS is set in the Jerome’s modest Brooklyn home in September 1937. The time period is significant. This is the latter part of the Great Depression, and the family’s funds are held very tightly. Also there is the rise of the Nazis in Germany and there sense that another World War is looming.
significant is the rise of Nazism in Germany and the fear of a looming World War. The Jeromes’ have relatives in Europe, and are anxious about their well being.
The play’s dramatic tension lies heavily within the pressure cooker nature of the environment; two families, seven people, living in very cramped, claustrophobic way with little to no privacy. There’s Jerome’s family comprising an overworked father Jack, Kate, the stressed out mother, older son Stanley and his younger fifteen year old brother Eugene.
Then, as the result of Kate’s anxious sister, Blanche, losing her husband and financially struggling, Kate and Jack invite Blanche and her daughters, Laurie and Nora, to move in with them,
Whilst the Jeromes’ find life very challenging, they maintain a positive attitude and have a good sense of humour. There’s humour around Eugene’s puberty challenges, and the way that Kate is always badgering her two sons to do their household chores.
Simon’s play mainly holds up well time-wise though some sexual/gender references are dated.
Lyn Lee sensitively directs this revival and her production serves the play well. The cast portray their characters well, and feel true to how Simon envisaged them.
Samuel Chapman gives a confident performance in the lead role as Eugene, the adolescent Neil Simon character. Chapman wears two hats; as well as playing Eugene in the action of the play, he is also the show’s narrator, breaking the fourth wall, and guiding the audience through this particular part of his journey.
Nick Roberts’ Jack, Eugene’s father, a good spirited man, struggling to keep the family together financially.
Koren Chambers played his hard working mother Kate, intent on holding the family together. With the concentration and intensity that Chambers gave the role, this was my favourite performance.
Samuel Owen shows both comic and dramatic range in playing Eugene’s brother, Samuel.
Donna Randall convincingly played Kate’s beleaguered sister, Blanche, who despite her gratitude still feels uncomfortable about staying with her family in her sister’s house. Interesting to note, in her program note, she wrote that she personally related to the Jeromes’ situation, Randall wrote that she grew up in a household of seven – sharing her bedroom with her sisters in bunk beds barely a foot apart!
Monique Bragge played Blanche’s older older daughter, Nora. She needed to show good dramatic range as Nora challenges her mother in wanting to leave school and home to become a dancer on Broadway.
In her stage debut, Taneisha Hall, looked comfortable and at home as Blanche’s younger daughter, Laurie, who is over protected by her mother because she is thought to have a heart flutter.
Lynn Lee’s creative team worked well in forming and building a distinctive stage world. David Pointon’s finely detailed, very functional split level set worked well. Roger Hind and Ruth Lowry’s lighting bathed the stage and featured some good touches as did Leone Sharp’s period costumes, Kim Jones sound design, Dawn Pointon and Lynn Lee’s music, and Leone Sharp and Peggy Leto’s prop design and coordination.
This is good theatre. Recommended, the Guild Theatre’s production of BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS is playing the Guild Theatre, Walz Street, Rochdale until the 13th June 2026. Performance times are on the Guild’s website.
