Aphrodite: Cracking directorial debut by Compton Players member of over 20 years

Compton Players Aphrodite

at Compton Village Hall

from Thursday, May 8 to

Saturday 10

Review by TONY TRIGWELL-JONES

SET in the small office of mail-order company Aphrodite, four women take telephone orders from adult-toy consumers while navigating the complexities of their private lives.

Employee of the month Lillian is stuck in a loveless marriage and her son has asked her to stop calling. Mother of five Janice is unable to find time for herself as she juggles work and family commitments.

Sylvie is desperate to have a child of her own, but the crippling cost of IVF is putting a strain on her marriage. Meanwhile, twenty-something Tiffany is still looking for “Mr Right”.

Mr Causeway, their shy and ineffective boss tries to keep everything on track, while struggling to hide affection for his top salesperson.

Lynne Buckland portrays Lillian with warmth and waspishness in equal measure, pulling laughs with well-timed outbursts of morose harshness. These are balanced with moments of pathos, most successfully when exploring the complexity of the grieving process.

Ruth Burton draws on Sylvie’s desperation for a child at all costs, driving her to ever more selfish acts. Her performance being especially convincing when channelling Sylvie’s sarcastic and to-the-point French manner.

Caroline Edwards leans into Janice’s maternal nature, performing with a calm generosity that highlights both her world-weariness and compassion, while Teagan O’Brien’s Tiffany is a playful and energetic figure that provides light relief, as well as youthful wisdom.

Pete Watt’s Mr Causeway is a guileless Arkwright. An awkward, stuttering mummy’s boy, gentle almost to the point of simpering but played with enough conviction as to be lovably plausible.

Though a member of Compton Players for over 20 years, this is Jasmine Mullany’s directorial debut, and she’s done a cracking job.

The detailing of each character’s performance; the management of the passing days, weeks and months; and the decision to have a variety of “gadgets” to be handled with absolute nonchalance really helped to draw out the comedy in Anna Longaretti’s script.

It’s fantastic to have groups like Compton Players producing work that is not only entertaining, but which also presents challenging contemporary narratives in community spaces.

Long may they continue.