Candida - Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Candida book cover

I'm afraid I didn't see Eigengrau because I felt miserable that day and didn't feel like it. However, I've been reliably assured that it was amazing and I missed out.

This was my first visit to Upstairs at the Gatehouse. It's a theatre located on the upper floors of the Gatehouse pub; hence its moniker. It turned out to be a bigger space than I'd anticipated. With free seating (as opposed to designated seating) I was able to bag a seat in the front row.

The set was wonderful. I think it's vital for plays by the likes of George Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward to have properly detailed sets in order to convey the period atmosphere and give one something to look at during the long dialogues when one's mind inevitably wanders. This set was one of the most detailed I've ever seen. The play is set in the 1890s in the drawing room of a middle class home. Fireplace? Check. With GLOWING LOGS, even though they wouldn't have been visible to most audience members. Black and white photograph of a relative on the wall? Check. Divan? Check. Bookcase? Check. Low chair near fireplace? Check. Replica newspaper? Check. Oil lamp type thing? Check. Houseplant that I don't know the name of, but which looked authentic? (Bamboo?) Check.

The Reverend James Morell (Harry Meacher) has candida is married to Candida. A charismatic Christian Socialist preacher, he believes that their relationship is solid and happy and that she depends upon him for love and protection. Candida (Judi Bowker) returns from a lengthy sojourn away from home with a young aristocratic poet, Eugene Marchbanks (Sebastian Cornelius), who, it transpires, has fallen in love with her and wants to get together with her. When he learns of Marchbanks' feelings Morell is initially dismissive but when he speaks to Candida about them he is shaken to discover that she does not feel as he thought she would about not only Marchbanks, but his preaching career and him in general. The play culminates in a 'who will she choose?' scene, with surprising consequences.

Candida is refreshingly feminist in the way it acknowledges that, in many cases, the success of men should at least partly be attributed to the unseen work of the women in their lives (e.g. emotional bolstering work, undertaking a greater share of the housework and childcare etc.). Maybe this was undermined slightly by the incredibly unsubtle patronising nature of Candida - she speaks to her husband and Marchbanks as though they were about two, referring to them as 'big babies' and 'boys', and doles out some pretty harsh passive aggressive criticism - which makes one wonder why either of them is so desperate for her love and approval. But that was also refreshing in its way. It's like the opposite of the end of A Doll's House; in this case the woman chooses to remain with her husband and he accepts that he's a much weaker person than he had always thought and recognises and acknowledges how much he has always relied on her.

The actors playing Morell and Candida were older than I imagine GBS had envisaged (Candida looked about the same age as the man playing her father), but I didn't think it mattered, as everyone played their parts plausibly and well.

I liked the character of Eugene a lot. He was the kind of person I imagined my adult self falling in love with when I was about 13: poetic, profound, passionate, attractive, romantic and melancholic, with an 1890s bohemian dress sense. Nowadays I think I'd find him a little irritating.

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