Review: THREE MEN IN A BOAT, The Mill at Sonning
Photo credit: Andreas Lambis
Jerome K Jerome’s 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat is one of those books that is better known for its title rather than its contents. It is of its time, set in Victorian Home Counties England when men of a certain class messed about on a river simply to pass the time on a two-week trip from Kingston to Oxford along the Thames. It is a sort of Bill Bryson self-narrated travelogue of the trip reflecting on the places and people they encounter as they rowed down up the river. It may have been an equally witty observational parody of the time but in bringing it to the stage, Clive Francis’ 2006 adaptation makes it feel like dated, frivolous and inconsequential. Even his updating to Edwardian times to allow a powerful closing image of World War I, in the style of Blackadder which signals the end of an era, can’t make it more interesting as it comes too late in the show.
In the first Act, nothing much happens as they meander along the riverbanks from Kingston towards Reading, meeting a variety of cantankerous old inhabitants who live or work along the river. There is a little more drama in the second act as they encounter a steam pleasure cruiser and when they arrive at the Bull at Sonning and Sonning Bridge, just a fishing line away from the Theatre, it does add interest. The story of four fisherman claiming they landed the trout mounted on the pub wall is amusingly told and could be the original story of so many fisherman claims of the largest fish they landed. There is some amusing business with the audience being asked to hold signs, ropes and a kettle which at least keeps them attentive.
The three actors who play the author Jerome K Jerome (George Watkins), his bank manager friend George (James Bradshaw) and a rather pompous Harris (Sean Rigby) do create lovely characterisations of these Edwardian pleasure seekers, charmingly and enthusiastically played. They are called on to play all of the other characters too include the dog travelling companion, Montmorency and there is a strong sense that a fourth actor might have given the story more coherence, working as a puppeteer for an actual puppet rather than a mimed dog and playing all the characters they meet. It is somewhat odd to have the three on the boat speaking the lines for an imagined person on the bank or barking as the dog at the other end of the boat.
Sean Cavanagh’s set design neatly transforms from Jerome’s apartment overlooking Kensington Gardens to the riverbanks, and the three-seater boat is cleverly portrayed on the watery stage cloth. The projected images successfully set the location with recognisable black and white period pictures although curiously, the director Joe Harmston has them pointing at the audience rather than the image when they refer to the sights. There is some delightful music hall songs to reinforce the period and also add to the sense that this is a stylised theatrical presentation of the journey. We hear “When I was a lad” from HMS Pinafore, written in 1878, and the Eton Boating song, written in1863, which reinforce the light-hearted jolly portrayal of the original period it was written.
This looks on paper to be a perfect title for the lovely Mill at Sonning set along the Thames and in part, in the local pub. It is a likable piece of nonsense, well played by the three actors who create, with charm, the three gentlemen and many more characters beside. But the first act drags on and although the second act holds more interest, the journey seems a little pointless and while the final image adds poignancy, we have little to relate to the modern day, just a reflection on how the world has been changed by the subsequent wars.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
Three Men in a Boat plays at The Mill at Sonning Theatre until 13 July, with further info here.