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ON THIS MONTH: THEATRE<br />
Photos by Keith Gilbert<br />
Accolade<br />
A seventy-year-old story that still resonates<br />
You’d be forgiven for expecting a play from<br />
1950 to be a curiosity; a hackneyed tale with<br />
little relevance to the way we live today. That’s<br />
not what director Derek Watts is promising at<br />
<strong>Lewes</strong> Little Theatre this month. Instead, he’s<br />
delivering a psychological thriller that blends<br />
humour into a genuinely touching love story.<br />
“The plot of Accolade almost sounds like a 21stcentury<br />
response to celebrity culture and media<br />
corruption”, he explains. It’s hard to disagree.<br />
Playwright Emlyn Williams offers the story of<br />
a famous novelist whose personal life is exposed.<br />
“Definitely sordid” admits the lead character,<br />
Will Trenting, whose racy stories have<br />
apparently been inspired by his own behaviour,<br />
not just imagination. And the truth is about to<br />
be revealed to his readers.<br />
Parallels between the writer and his creation<br />
are obvious – and not merely because Williams<br />
took the lead role at the London premiere. In<br />
the play, Will’s private promiscuity is a shock<br />
to his publisher but no surprise to his wife, who<br />
tolerated it as part of his personality. Williams,<br />
his creator, had a similarly secret life: he was<br />
bisexual at a time when this could have resulted<br />
in him spending a lifetime in prison, yet he also<br />
had the support of his wife. However, composing<br />
a script that was acceptable to contemporary<br />
audiences and to the Lord Chamberlain, who<br />
had the power to censor plays, meant the<br />
plot needed a heterosexual theme. It was a<br />
characteristically clever move from Williams,<br />
known to many as the ‘Welsh Noel Coward’: the<br />
Lord Chamberlain didn’t ask to change a single<br />
word. The result is Williams’s “most direct<br />
and moving confrontation with his own double<br />
nature”, says Derek Watts. “Though it is a very<br />
theatrical piece, the issues it deals with are very<br />
much of today.”<br />
This certainly is a timely production. As well<br />
as inviting us to consider the media’s obsession<br />
with celebrity, Accolade also considers the<br />
privacy of famous people and asks us to reflect<br />
on whether we can enjoy art if we are opposed<br />
to the lifestyle of the artist. “The subject is<br />
completely fearless and the naturalistic language<br />
means that the audience do not see the punches<br />
coming”, says Derek. Indeed, the audience is<br />
placed at the heart of the proceedings, with a<br />
set by Michael Folkard that’s designed to make<br />
us a key part of the action rather than sitting<br />
in judgement. “We are aiming to make the<br />
audience feel like guests of the family”, Derek<br />
explains, “so that when the various shocking<br />
pieces of news break, they feel like it was<br />
happening to friends.”<br />
Mark Bridge<br />
Accolade is being presented by <strong>Lewes</strong><br />
Theatre Club from 11th-18th <strong>May</strong>.<br />
lewestheatre.org<br />
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