This Realm, This Little England

By Gerald Clarke

WAY UPSTREAM by Alan Ayckbourn

For Shakespeare, England was a sceptered isle, another Eden, a blessed plot peopled by "such dear souls." For Alan Ayckbourn, writing nearly 400 years later, it is a dirty, overcrowded cabin cruiser, inhabited by a contentious crew of incompetents who could not navigate a bathtub, let alone the meandering river he provides them in Way Upstream. But, Ayckbourn being Ayckbourn, his newest play, which received its American premiere at Houston's Alley Theater last week, is often also extremely funny, a social allegory that amuses before it frightens.

In a unique exchange program with the Alley, Ayckbourn, who is director of productions of the Stephen Joseph Theater in the Round in Scarborough, has transported his company to Houston to present this work and one of his earlier plays, Absent Friends. There is nothing out-of-the-suitcase about Way Upstream, however: the Alley production is perhaps as ambitious a staging as has ever been attempted by a regional theater. The playwright's River Orb has been regurgitated into a 20,000-gal. tank of water; a 24-ft. cabin cruiser has been assembled inside; and a huge sprinkler system has been installed to re-create a summer downpour. Ayckbourn has directed, as he did in Scarborough, and his players move as effortlessly as their roles--and their wayward craft--will allow.

Way Upstream begins way downstream, as two middle-class English couples prepare to set off together on a seven-day holiday up the River Orb. Trouble begins with a peevish squabble between Keith (Robin Bowerman), who organized the party, and his wife June (Carole Boyd). The next morning the Hadforth Bounty, Britain in miniature, starts its uncertain journey to Armageddon Bridge-where, as in the Bible, good and evil will meet in final conflict.

Keith barks commands, June lazes on deck, and the other two--the reasonable Britons--do what they are told. Alistair (Robin Herford), Keith's partner in business, sees everybody's side but his own, while his wife Emma (Lavinia Bertram) wonders how she can transform the toothpick that runs up his back into a spine. The only problem is that Keith, for all his bluster, does not know what he is doing, in business or on the boat, and Alistair, when he eventually takes the helm, runs them onto the mud. Salvation comes in the person of a riverman, Vince (Graeme Eton), who puts the boat back on course. Vince knows how to do everything, it seems, and, after a day or two of amiability, displaces Keith as captain, humiliates Alistair and, with the help of a lady friend (Gillian Sevan), pulls down the Union Jack and unfurls the pirate's flag, the JoUy Roger. Alistair meekly puts up with it all; only when his wife's life is threatened does he reassert his rightful place.

Skillful as he is, Ayckbourn has not been totally successful in this, his 26th play. The primary problem is the character of Alistair, who is, despite appearances, the center around which everything turns: he is, the author seems to be saying, the country's true salvation--if he can be made angry enough. Unfortunately, his passivity defeats even his creator, and his belated transformation from mouse to man at Armageddon Bridge seems more like a miracle than an authentic development of character. Beautifully performed, expertly produced and directed by the playwright, Way Upstream is Ayckbourn at his most provocative, but not at his best. --By Gerald Clarke

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