Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Ben Vaughn, Karen Brooks, John Nichols, Niki Baldwin.

The glorious shadow of the R.S.C. looms large over Stratford-Upon-Avon, like Duncan at the feast, the spectral glow is always uppermost in people’s minds when they think of the much loved Warwickshire town.

For some the strength, valour and beauty of the R.S.C. might be considered a hindrance in being able to show with any type of realistic pleasure performances by other companies, that other theatres wishing to open up and bring in works away from the greatest ever playwright would find it difficult to live under the looming illumination that spreads from down by the river and into everybody’s lives, Relatively Speaking of course.

The B ear Pit, that strong allusion to entertainment in London and beyond to which the world of theatre sprang out of, holds fascination and very different kind of truth offered just down the road and in the new home of William Shakespeare. It is though a world in which the truth is observed and honoured, in which the evoking memories of the Fringe are to be laid out before the visitor and the resident alike and in which the words of arguably the U.K.s greatest living writer of modern humour and word play can rub shoulders with the Bard himself.

Inside The Bear Pit, just behind the United Reform Church, within a short walking distance of the home in which a young Warwickshire lad grew up and within sight of the splendid Saturday market, Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking was performed by four actors of absolute note who not only captured the spirit of the piece but of hosting a production with absolute clarity of vision and honour.

One of Mr. Ayckbourn’s shorter pieces, it still nonetheless speaks to an audience in much the same way that William Shakespeare’s work is able to cut through the centuries and offer an insight into the human condition, a funny and poignant condition in which the older man will somehow always, perhaps for time immemorial, make a great show of his when falling for a younger woman.

The play may have been hosted by the world of the lay person but there was nothing at all what might be considered amateur about the production, the cast or the expert direction that went into the fully fledged offering set out by The Bear Pit.

The four strong cast were on absolute top form but also displayed huge gravitas that would have not gone unnoticed at the R.S.C. and in John Nichols and Niki Baldwin, the plight of the middle aged couple, the marriage that had grown stale and lifeless, was transformed into a monument of creative cool.

One of Alan Ayckbourn’s great comedies was given gravitas and an abundance of space to breathe inside The Bear Pit and whilst the friendly shadow of the R.S.C. spreads its influence throughout the town, inside this enclosed environment, lays the type of professionalism and charm that can only be saluted.

Ian D. Hall