BWW Reviews: NEVILLE'S ISLAND at Olney Theatre Center is Ambitious Production

All right I admit it. I'm an "Anglophile". I love Masterpiece Theatre, going all the way back to the 1977 season and "Poldark". Then there was the wonderful comedy "Cold Feet" and "MI-5". BBC America then came to our shores. And thank to WETA in DC, we now have WETA UK with British programming 24/7 where you can see one of my favorite comedies "Doc Martin". The star of "Doc Martin" is Martin Clunes who happens to star in the 1998 film of "Neville's Island" along with the great Timothy Spall.

And now, thanks to the Olney Theatre Center, we have a play that was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Comedy some twenty-one years ago, NEVILLE'S ISLAND by Tim Firth. Firth is best known for his two big British hit films "Calendar Girls" and "Kinky Boots" which by coincidence has just opened on Broadway with music by Cindy Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein. I saw the show in Chicago last year and highly recommend it.

I can even see NEVILLE'S ISLAND turned into a musical one day. There's enough material for it.

I have to applaud OTC for producing such a play and I believe it's the first production of it in the Baltimore/Washington area. While it may be billed as a comedy...it is much more than that.

The play brings to mind the wonderful William Golding novel "Lord of the Flies". What happens to a group of young boys stranded on an island. Here, four middle-aged men work for a water company are on an organized team-building journey in the Lake District of England (which I remember fondly from my visit there in 1976). However, their rowboat capsizes and the quartet find themselves marooned on an island for two days.

We are introduced to the three of the characters who are splashing through water in what is normally the orchestra pit and then they climb onto the stage soaking wet. One arrives up stage.

There is no way the play could continue with the actors in this kind of a situation. The foursome are shivering and Neville begins to slap his naked chest to keep warm. He adds, "This is what the Romans did when they first came to Britain." So they all disrobe and use their carefully packed clothing (thankfully dry in plastic bags). I was frankly surprised that all four carefully covered their naked bodies with their towels as they undressed and then put on their dry clothes since men normally are not shy about undressing in front of each other...but maybe because they are British...

The leader of the group is Neville played by the wonderful Michael Russotto who reminded me very much of the actor Edward Hermann, suave and sophisticated but not such a great leader.

Then there is Roy (played realitiscally by Boltan Marsh) a geeky, devout Christian and ornothologist who has suffered a nervous breakdown. He loves to climb trees with his binoculars.

Angus (played marvellously by a deadpan Todd Scofield) has a huge rucksack or backpack. (I had never heard this term used before until I saw MAMMA MIA!). Outside his rucksack are various pots and pans and inside every conceivable gadget one camping would want.

Rounding out the group is Gordon played by the incomporable Michael Glenn. This is a terrific part for an actor and Glenn takes advantage of this opportunity. He is sarastic, an atheist, angry, incredibly insulting, and the only one who lost all of his belongings in the lake. He must do with clothes way too big for him. There is so much more to him than we see.

There is much laughter and it also deals with emotions.

Act II is full of surprises I will not reveal.

I normally never complain about the length of a play. But at two hours and 45 minutes, it could easily have been shortened. In fact the film was only 85 minutes.

See a wonderful interview by Jeffrey Walker with Director Jason King Jones and actor Michael Russotto at www.dctheatrescene.com/2013/04/05/shipwrecked.

NEVILLE'S ISLAND ends April 28. For tickets, call 301-924-3400.

cgshubow@broadwayworld.com

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