We'll always have Paris

‘We'll Always Have Paris’ is a new comedy by playwright Jill Hyem. The play’s title is the cinema’s 43^rd most famous quote, being Rick’s parting words to Ilsa at the end of ‘Casablanca’. This phrase has gone on to be used several more times, even in ‘Star Trek’!

Jill Hyem was born in London in 1937. She went to a Sussex boarding school, telling all her friends that she was a foundling, left on church steps by her Duchess mother, who was a murderer. Her active mind soon found her acting’ and then helping Tom Stoppard to write ‘Mrs Dales Diary’ for the BBC radio. Jill went on to write such varied works as ‘Howard’s Way’, ‘Tenko’ and an Agatha Christie TV adaptation of ‘Miss Marple’.

 This play is having its Australian Premiere at the Harbour Theatre in the Port Cineaste Building, 70 Adelaide Street, Fremantle. The two-hour performances are at 8.00 pm nightly, at the end of the week, until Saturday 4^th August. There are Sunday matinees on 22^nd and 29^th July commencing at 2.00 pm.

        After decades, a school reunion can be quite daunting. When newly widowed Anna (Kate Moulder) decides to visit an old friend who is now living in the Paris arrondissement of St Germain, how will things go? Her school buddy is retired headmistress, Nancy (Jo Sterkenburg) living in a rented, beautiful, top floor flat. 

       The flats are owned by Madame Boussiron (Ann Speicher), as her name suggests (bouse is a cowpat) is a bit of a tyrant. Her handyman is Chalot (Rob Tagliaferri), a pleasant out of work actor.

       A couple of floors down, lives another old school friend, Rachel (Grace Hitchin) – sorry Raquel as she now calls herself – whose hormone levels haven’t changed since her teenage years.

This light comedy, and character study has been capably directed by the award-winning Nicola Bond. The play itself has very little storyline, but is entertaining and full of fun. The chemistry of the cast was excellent and gave plenty of laughs. The French accents were average, a little like TVs ‘’Allo, ‘Allo’, but Pascale Benkirane did well to take the cast from nothing to this acceptable level.

The set (designed by Nicola Bond) was visually stunning, and had numerous fixtures and fittings making it look French. The lighting (Peter Kirkwood, Rob Tagliaferri) was beautifully even – this sounds like a silly and minor point to make, but so few community theatres seem to achieve this - with no dark patches. It was also good to see a set door open and not have a black void beyond. How often do we see actors walking into the dark unknown? Vanessa Gudgeon’s soundscape was up to her regularly high standard, with spot on cuing for phones etc.

This is a pleasant, very well acted and directed play, with interesting characters but a little thin on story. Most enjoyable.