A fine play
A rare performance of a rare play, Horses in Midstream is staged in Limassol
Try to find out anything about Andrew Rosenthal’s play Horses in Midstream, and you’ll have tough time of it. For starters, its first performance in New York, one of only a handful, was some 45 years ago. In fact, the cast who are in frenzied rehearsals right now preparing for the Limassol production, couldn’t even get hold of a copy of it for themselves, and were confined to photocopying an old paper back edition and propagating it amongst their six-members.
Why is this play so elusive? Because it’s Andrew Rosenthal, one of those rare species of writers who, in his embryonic career as a fiction writer, made the transition to hard journalism and not the other way round. And he hasn’t looked back. He only wrote three plays before becoming the literary editor of the New Yorker and then deputy foreign editor of the New York Times, his once blossoming career as a playwright forsaken for the world of high-brow reportage, have rendered him a ghost of a playwright and a much cherished one at that.
“This is one of the finest plays we have ever presented,” proclaims director Malcolm Mowbray, “enjoyed by cast and audiences alike, we are delighted to play it again.”
Rosenthal appropriated the play’s name from an 1864 speech by Abraham Lincoln: ‘An old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses in mid-stream.’ Set in post war period, the play centres around a couple living on the Mediterranean island of Elba, which is one of the places Napoleon was imprisoned in in Italy, there they remain undisturbed in their self-imposed exile until a couple turn up and turn their lives upside down. Considering the title, it’s hard not to imagine Horses in Midstream as a tale of impeding woe and doom although Bryan Ayres, who plays Charles, assures that it is a warm and gentle drama.
Set in spring in 1960, Anne Marie, a successful author, and Charles Pine, an American “drop-out”, have lived on the island of Elba since the 1930s. They make occasional visits to Paris and are cared for by Ganna, a servant, while their friend Tom lives in a cabin on the side of a nearby mountain. When two unexpected visitors arrive on the island the even tenor of their lives is changed forever.
Through humour and a quiet strength, Horses in Midstream portrays the life and loves of Charles and his French novelist mistress as both a social drama and a comedy.
“It’s a very lighthearted play with dark moments but essentially, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a comedy drama. Most plays either fall into the category of comedy or farce, this is very unusual because it’s got everything,” says Ayres.
Ayres plays Charles, a role he admits being attracted to because Charles is a man-of his age, and he adds, with tongue firmly placed in cheek, a grumpy old man!
“The play says a lot about the young and the old finding a meeting point. The first reaction to a young woman turning up is not particularly congenial but a relationship develops and the play is so well written, it develops in a very attractive way.
“The young woman after a time, wants to stay with them. It is the drama of Charles saying no, then saying yes and then common sense prevailing.”
Ayres is a seasoned professional actor who has been on the scene since 1952. He has performed in or directed over 150 plays. His most prominent acting roles include Othello although one of his favourite roles is that of an actor who disappeared off the scene and suddenly reappears. The play is called The Country Girl, which was made into a film with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly.
“I’d love to play that role again, I was never a particularly good juvenile actor and it wasn’t until I was in my early forties that I got the parts that I wanted. I really do enjoy playing people that have had a hard life because I’ve had an easy life myself.”
Horses In Midstream. A play by Andrew Rosenthal produced by The Rose Theatre. Directed by Malcolm Mowbray. November 17-18. ETHAL Technologeion, Franklin Roosevelt Avenue. Limassol. 8pm. ?6 /?4. English Language. Bookings contact tel: 99-775426
